
Glass **-fj ■&*t*J 

Book -/f 3 



UNITED STATES BUREAU OF EDUCATION 

BULLETIN. 1913. NO. 57 WHOLE NUMBER 568 



ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN 
ENGLAND 

WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO LONDON, 
LIVERPOOL, AND MANCHESTER 



By I. L. KANDEL 




WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1914 



Wonograph 




BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF EDUCATION. 

[Note.— With the exceptions indicated, the documents named below will be sent free of charge upon 
application to the Commissioner of Education, Washington. It. C. Those marked with an asterisk *) are 
no longer available for free distribution, but may be had of the Superintendent of Documents, Government 
Printing Office, Washington, D. C, upon payment of the price stated. Documents marked with a dag- 
ger (f) are out of print. Titles are abridged.] 



1913. 



*No. 

No. 

No. 

No. 
*No. 
*No. 

No. 
fNo. 

No. 
*No. 
*No. 
*No. 
*No. 
*No. 
fNo. 
*No. 
*No. 
*No. 
*No. 
*No. 
*No. 

No. 

No. 

No. 
*No. 
*No. 

No. 

No. 
*No. 

No. 

No. 

No. 

*No. 



5cts. 



10 cte. 



lOcte. 



1. Course of study for rural-school teachers. Mutchler and Craig. 

2. Mathematics at West Point and Annapolis. 

3. Report of committee on uniform records and reports. 

4. Mathematics in technical secondary schools. 

5. A study of expenses of city school systems. Harlan Updegraff. 

6. Agricultural education in secondary schools. 10 cts. 

7. Educational status of nursing. M. Adelaide Nutting. 

8. Peace day. Fannie Fern Andrews. [Later pub., 1913, No. 12.J 

9. Country schools for city boys. William Starr Myers. 

10. Bibliography of education in agriculture and home economics. 

11. Current educational topics, No. I. 5 cts. 
Dutch schools of New Netherland. W. H. Kilpatrick. 20 cts. 
Influences tending to improve the work of teacher of mathematics. 5 eta. 
Report of the American commissioners on the teaching of mathematics . 10 cts . 
Current educational topics, No. II. 

16. The reorganized school playground. Henry S. Curtis. 5 cte. 

17. The Montessori system of education. Anna Tolman Smith. 5 cts. 

18. Teaching language through agriculture, etc. M. A. Leiper. 5 cts. 

19. Professional distribution of college graduates. B. B. Burritt. 10 cts. 

20. Readjustment of a rural high school. H. A. Brown. 10 cts. 

21. Urban and rural common-school statistics. Updegraff and Hood. 5 cte. 

22. Public and private high schools. 

23. Special collections in libraries. Johnston and Mudge. 
Current educational topics, No. III. 

List of publications of the United States Bureau of Education, 1912. 5 cts. 
Bibliography of child study for the years 1910-11. 10 cts. 
History of public-school education in Arkansas. Stephen B. Weeks. 
Cultivating school grounds in Wake County, N. C. Zebulon Judd. 
Bibliography of teaching of mathematics. D. E. Smith and C. Goldziher. 

10 cts. 
Latin- American universities and special schools. E. E. Brandon. 
Educational directory, 1912. 

Bibliography of exceptional children and their education. A. MacDonald. 
Statistics of State universities, etc., 1912. 5 cts. 

1913. 



24. 
25. 
26. 
27. 
28. 
29. 

30. 
31. 
32. 

33. 



No. 1. Monthly record of current educational publications, January, 1913. 

No. 2. Training courses for rural teachers. A. C. Monahan and R. H. Wright. 

No. 3. Teaching of modern languages in the United States. C. H. Handschin. 
*No. 4. Present standards of higher education. George Edwin MacLean. 20 cts. 

No. 5. Monthly record of current educational publications, February, 1913. 

No. 6. Agricultural instruction in high schools. C. H. Robison and F. B. JeDks. 
*No. 7. College entrance requirements. Clarence D. Kingsley. 15 cts. 
*No. 8. The status of rural education. A. C. Monahan. 15 cts, 

(Continued on p. 3 of cover 






UNITED STATES BUREAU OF EDUCATION 

BULLETIN, 1913, NO. 57 WHOLE NUMBER 568 



ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN 
ENGLAND 

WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO LONDON, 
LIVERPOOL, AND MANCHESTER 



By I. L. KANDEL 




WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1914 



ft 






0. OF D. 
FEB W 1914 



i 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 

Letter of transmittal 5 

Preface 6 

Chapter I . — The administration of education 7 

II . — School managers and care committees 21 

III. — Organization, classification, and coordination of schools 26 

IY. — School attendance and its enforcement 33 

V. — Infant schools 37 

VI. — The elementary school 43 

VII. — The teaching of special subjects 56 

(1) Nature study 56 

(2) Handwork 59 

(3) Needlework and domestic subjects 65 

(4) Physical training and organized games 70 

VII I .—Playgrounds 1 75 



VS' 



IX. — Medical inspection ^. . .-^ ^ ,, 79 

X. — The feeding of necessitous children 92 

XI .—Scholarships 96 

XII . — Open-air schools 103 

(1) Country holiday schools ■. 109 

(2) Holidays for poor children 110 

XIII. — Extra-school activities Ill 

(1) Vacation schools Ill 

(2) The school as a social center 113 

XIV. — Day industrial schools 116 

XV.— Mental defectives 118 

XVI.— Central schools 126 

XVII. — Evening schools 141 

XVIII . — Juvenile employment 151 

Index 159 

3 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Page. 

Plate 1 . Shooters Hill open-air school Frontispiece. 

2A. A newly erected school building, Manchester 16 

2B. A newly erected school building, Manchester 16 

3A. Woodwork shop — A Liverpool elementary handicraft center 60 

3B . Metal- work shop — A Liverpool handicraft center 60 

4A . Models made in a Liverpool handicraft center 60 

4B . Models made in a Liverpool handicraft center 60 

5A. Scheme of metal work for two years. Thomas Street L. C. C. Central 

School 64 

5B. Scheme of metal work for two years. Thomas Street L. C. C. Central 

School 64 

6A. Models of woodwork in a Manchester elementary school 64 

6B. Models of light metal work in a Manchester elementary school 64 

7A. St. James School, Liverpool. Boys' cookery 68 

7B. St. James School, Liverpool. Girls' cookery 68 

8A. Cooking class at Burgess Street Center, Manchester elementary school. 68 

8B . Laundry work in a Manchester elementary school 68 

9A . Shooters Hill open-air school — The schoolhouse 104 

9B. Shooters Hill open-air school — Gardening 104 

10A . Shooters Hill open-air school — The pet house 104 

10B . Shooters Hill open-air school — Fencing the school garden 104 

4 



LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. 



Department of the Interior, 

Bureau of Education, 

Washington, D. C, June 27, 1913. 

Sir: With the rapid growth of American cities and the large 
increase in their industrial population, the problems of city school 
administration are becoming more complex and difficult. These prob- 
lems are different for different cities and can seldom if ever be solved 
by imitation. Yet a knowledge of the administration of the schools 
of one large city can not fail to be helpful in working out plans for the 
better administration of the schools of another. This helpfulness 
may. be all the greater if, while some of the conditions in the two 
cities are quite similar, others are so dissimilar as to amount to con- 
trast, as is the case with the large cities of England and America. 
For this reason, and because of the desire in this country for a better 
general knowledge of English schools, I have asked Mr. I. L. Kandel, 
of Manchester, England, to prepare for this bureau a manuscript on 
the public schools of London, Manchester, and Liverpool, giving 
special attention to the methods of dealing with those problems which 
have more recently assumed importance in American cities. In 
collecting material for this manuscript, Mr. Kandel visited the cities 
and studied their schools carefully at first hand. His knowledge of 
schools and general conditions in America has enabled him to give the 
subject such treatment as to make his study especially helpful to 
American teachers and school officers. I recommend that the manu- 
script be published as a bulletin of the Bureau of Education. 

Respectfully submitted. 

P. P. Claxton, 

Commissioner. 

The Secretary of the Interior. 



PREFACE, 



English education at the present time offers many points of inter- 
est, and an account of the systems of elementary education of Lon- 
don, the world metropolis, of Manchester, the center of the world's 
cotton industry, and of Liverpool, one of the greatest shipping centers 
of the world, may be taken as typical of the aims and aspirations of 
the educational activity of other cities of England. The effects of 
the changes introduced in educational administration by the educa- 
tion act of 1902 can now, after a decade, begin to be evaluated and the 
promise for the future to be estimated. Education has become a 
public concern, as it never was before in English education, and the 
duty of the community to the rising generation is more liberally 
interpreted. Hence, education now means something more than the 
mere provision of schools; it includes care for the physical and moral 
development, as well as the instruction, of all children. The work of 
the school also presents many interesting aspects, for it now stands at 
the beginning of a process of development which has unlimited possi- 
bilities for the future. If the author has succeeded in arousing an 
interest in the subject presented in the following pages, it is due to 
the unfailing courtesy and good will of the school officials, head 
teachers, and their assistants in the cities visited. The author ex- 
presses his acknowledgment of the valuable help and criticism received 
from his friends, Mr. I. Shaer and Dr. Peter Sandiford. 

I: L. K. 

Manchester, England, May, 1913. 



ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 



Chapter I. 

THE ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION. 

There is probably no parallel in the history of education to the 
remarkable activity and progress which have characterized English 
education in all its branches since the opening of the present century. 
It would seem as if all the influences which retarded its development 
in the last century, the social, political, and religious interests, had 
entirely disappeared. But it would be a mistake to imagine that some- 
thing in the nature of a revolution has taken place, or that a national 
scheme suddenly sprang into being by the will of some legislative 
body. Such a rapid change would be alien to the English political 
theory, which prefers progress to be slow and calculated, and intro- 
duces compulsory legislation when the conditions are ripe for it. The 
theory of State control in education has, however, gradually been 
accepted, and the importance of a national system of education is 
generally recognized, but it is not intended to surrender to the State 
that local and private freedom which has always been enjoyed in 
this matter. The State, under the new system, aims to furnish those 
conditions which make possible the exercise of local freedom in the 
interest of a well-coordinated and progressive system of education. 
Hence the central Government, through its education department, 
merely acts in an advisory and supervisory capacity, and encourages 
local effort by financial assistance, if certain minimum standards are 
observed. The control which the State exercises is accordingly 
financial, but otherwise no pressure is brought to bear on the local 
authorities, who are at liberty, if they can afford it, to use their inde- 
pendence in their own way, conduct any experiments they please, 
and remain free from central control, provided that they bear the 
expenses themselves. Thus the principle of devolution is applied to 
the administration of education, and, though the framework of a 
national system is already in existence, there is no approximation to 
the centralized and bureaucratic systems of France or Germany. 
The ultimate responsibility for education accordingly rests with the 
local authority. This principle of freedom is a characteristic feature 
of all branches of English education, and is carried through to the 
individual school. While this doctrine of freedom is to a great 
extent the secret of the strength of the English system, it is at the 
same time the cause of many of its weaknesses. 



8 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

One of the factors which long stood in the way of the establishment 
of a national system was the religious question, which was the origin of 
and still is responsible for a dual system of elementary schools. But 
it seems highly probable that the dimculties which surround the 
problem of control and religious instruction in the schools are not so 
great now as they once were and that a complete settlement is in 
sight. In fact, in the present discussion of educational reform the 
religious difficulty hardly receives any attention. There still remains 
the social question, and it is extremely doubtful whether there will 
ever be established in England a system as national as that of America 
or comparable to the Einheitsschule demanded by some reformers in 
Germany. It seems certain that there will always be schools which 
serve class interests, and many of the leaders of English thought 
support the retention of private schools, which can perform their 
work without any restrictions from an external body and make such 
contributions as they are able in the way of educational experiments. 
Since these institutions are likely to be sufficiently wealthy not to 
stand in need of State aid, they will find no difficulty in remaining 
apart from a centrally administered national system of education. 
The possibility, however, of inspecting private schools, in much the 
same way as some schools in the New England States are inspected, 
has been suggested. 

The central authority for the administration of education in Eng- 
land and Wales is the Board of Education, which was created in 1899 
to replace the Education Department and the Science and Art 
Department, and with some few exceptions is concerned with the 
administration of all branches of education. Its functions are to see 
that the statutes bearing on education are observed and to administer 
the grants in respect of education. Through the grants the board is 
enabled to exercise an indirect control on the education of the country. 
It issues regulations for the administration of the various branches of 
education, which serve as conditions for earning the Government 
grant. In reference to elementary education the board publishes 
annually a Code of Regulations for Public Elementary Schools in 
England, which is laid before Parliament and thus acquires the force 
of law. The code deals with such matters as the curriculum, teaching 
staff, premises, accommodation, equipment, the grants, attendance, 
etc., but in each case only lays down the minimum requirements 
compatible with efficiency. There has been a tendency in recent 
years to leave more freedom to the local authorities even in these 
matters, without insisting on the prior approval of the board or its 
inspectors. Thus local authorities may make experiments in the 
curriculum and changes in the time-tables without special notifica- 
tion. The code, in giving the number of subjects which may be 
taught in the elemental schools, does not insist that any one of 



THE ADMINISTRATION OP EDUCATION. 9 

these, with the exception of physical training, shall be included in the 
curriculum, nor is any time allotment given for each subject, except 
in the case of special subjects like handicrafts, domestic subjects, and 
physical training. Similarly, in the case of attendances, only the 
minimum of 400 sessions per pupil is definitely required for the grant. 
The board also issues " Suggestions for the Consideration of Teachers 
and Others Concerned in the Work of Public Elementary Schools," 
giving advice and suggestions on methods of instruction in the sub- 
jects of the curriculum but does not insist on the introduction of these 
methods in the schools. Except in a few subjects the board does not 
publish syllabuses of the school subjects and does not require the use 
of these, although for special reasons, as in the case of physical train- 
ing, it may recommend the employment of the official syllabus. The 
board has undoubtedly contributed more than any other agency in 
the country to the improvement of education by these indirect means, 
but the point that must be emphasized is that the efforts and initia- 
tive of the individual teacher or head teacher are in no way inter- 
fered with or discouraged, provided that they can be justified. The 
policy of the board is well stated in the " Suggestions" in the following 
terms : 

The only uniformity of practice that the Board of Education desire to see in the 
teaching of the public elementary schools is that each teacher shall think for him- 
self, and work out for himself, such methods of teaching as may use his powers to the 
best advantage and be best suited to the particular needs and conditions of the school. 
Uniformity of details in practice (except in the mere routine of school management) 
is not desirable, even if it were attainable. But freedom implies a corresponaing 
responsibility in its use. 1 

The board also issues regulations for the training of teachers, for 
secondary schools, schools of art, and technical schools; it is the 
one potent force for the unification of standards and the promotion 
of progress in education at the present time. 

The inspectors of the Board of Education superintend the observ- 
ance of the code and regulations by the local education authorities 
and report on the efficiency of the schools. The inspections of 
elementary schools do not take place at regular intervals, nor is 
formal notice of an intended visit given by the inspectors. It is a 
common practice not to visit schools which are under an efficient 
head teacher as frequently as schools which seem to require closer 
attention. But in either case a school may not be inspected for 
periods of a year or more. The inspectors are required to report not 
only on the efficiency of the teaching, but also on the adequacy of 
the buildings and their sanitary condition. Supervision, in the 
sense of inspecting instruction for the purpose of improving the 

1 The latest code provides that: "The Board of Education, or the inspector who visits the school, may 
require any syllabus to be submitted for approval. The board may require the modification of any 
syllabus which is unsuitable."— Ed. 



10 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

teacher, is not attempted by the board. The inspectors may discuss 
and offer suggestions on the syllabuses drawn up by the head teachers, 
and they may confer with the teachers on shortcomings in their 
methods of instruction, but for purposes of improvement the relations 
are not sufficiently sustained. It always remains in the power of the 
local education authority to act on an adverse report from the inspec- 
tors on a school or teacher. The inadequacy of the inspectorial staff 
from this point of view can not be denied, but at the same time it is 
uncertain whether the supervision of teachers is intended to be part 
of the duties of the inspectors. Whether the numerous criticisms 
passed on inspectors is due to a general misconception of their duties 
or merely to some of the differences which have prevailed in recent 
years between the elementary school teachers and the Board of Edu- 
cation, it is impossible to say, but the statement is frequently made 
that the teachers derive little benefit from the visits of the inspectors, 
especially since the opinions of different inspectors are not always 
the same and there is an absence of definite standards of criticism. 
At the same time it must be pointed out that the inspectors are in 
touch with large areas and many different types of schools, and are 
consequently in a position to draw on a wide experience. As a result 
of recent agitations for some reform in the method of appointment 
and in the qualifications for those inspectors who are to deal with 
elementary schools, the board has decided to appoint about ten 
assistant inspectors, who must have had at least eight years' expe- 
rience in elementary school teaching. Some time must elapse before 
the results of this experiment can be estimated; the insistence on 
elementary school experience does at any rate open a career for 
elementary school teachers. 

The organization of education is based on the education act of 1902 
and other acts which supplement this. Under this scheme the au- 
thorities responsible for local administration generally were given 
control of education in their areas. 1 

London is an administrative county, with an area of 120 square 
miles, established by act of Parliament for purposes of local govern- 
ment, with a population in 1911 of 4,522,961. A special education act 
was passed for London in 1903, conferring on it the same powers as 
had already been conferred by the 1902 act on similar areas. Man- 
chester and Liverpool are county boroughs, the former with a popu- 

1 Four types of areas are recognized for the purposes of local government— administrative counties, which 
correspond in general to the counties in some American States; municipal boroughs or cities with a popu- 
lation of from 10,000 to 50,000; county boroughs or cities with not less than 50,000 inhabitants; and urban 
districts or areas corresponding to townships in some American States. All these authorities are intrusted 
with the management of elementary education within their areas, provided in the case of municipal 
boroughs that they have a population of not less than 10,000, and in the case of urban districts that they 
have a population of not less than 20,000. For the purposes of higher education, however, only adminis- 
trative counties and county boroughs are autonomous. The three areas with which this work deals, 
namely, London, Liverpool, and Manchester, belong to the latter class. 



THE ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION. 11 

lation in 1911 of 714,566, the latter with 746,566. The local authori- 
ties, the city councils in Manchester and Liverpool, and the County 
Council in London, were accordingly empowered to control through 
special committees all branches of education. The administration 
of education was thus taken away from special ad hoc bodies and 
placed in the hands of the authority responsible for the administration 
of other local public services. Buffalo is an example of an American 
city in which the same system prevails. The councils accordingly 
delegate the power intrusted to them to education committees, which 
consist of members of the respective councils, and coopted members 
who have experience in education or are acquainted with the needs 
of the various kinds of schools. The act of 1902 provided that 
women must be included on education committees. The education 
committee of the London County Council, which consists of 118 
elected members and 19 aldermen, includes 50 members, of whom 38 
are members of the Council and 12 are coopted; 2 of the councillors 
and 5 of the coopted members are women. In Manchester the edu- 
cation committee consists of 20 councillors, including 2 women, and 
13 coopted members, 4 of whom are women. In Liverpool the num- 
ber of members on the committee is 52, of whom 34 are councillors 
and 18 coopted members (3 being women). The old school boards 
with their limited sphere of duties, and often small areas and re- 
stricted powers, were thus replaced by new education authorities 
with larger powers over wider areas, corresponding to the areas rec- 
ognized for local government in other than educational matters. 
This extension of powers, with a command of greater resources, was 
bound to attract men and women who would not interest themselves 
in the routine of small boards. London, Manchester and Liverpool 
have continued under the Council the progress begun by the former 
school boards. 1 

The education committees have full power to deal with all types of 
education and of making recommendations on the subject to their 
councils, but they have no power to raise or borrow money, except 
that the education committee in London may spend up to $2,500. 
Educational expenditure is subject to the same considerations as the 
expenditure in other departments and requires the recommendation 
of the finance committees of the Councils. The work of the educa- 
tion committees is divided up among a number of subcommittees. In 
London there are nine subcommittees, as follows: General purposes; 
accommodation and attendance; books and apparatus; buildings; 
children's care (central); elementary education; higher education; 
special schools, and teaching staff. In Manchester there are the fol- 
lowing subcommittees: General purposes; finance and audit; schools 

1 It should be recalled that the school boards of the large boroughs secured, during what was the forma- 
tive period of public elementary education in England, the services of notable men and women, and that 
a return to the ad hoc system for these areas is demanded sometimes. — Ed. 



12 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

of technology and art; secondary education; elementary education; 
administrative; sites and buildings. There are similar subdivisions 
of the work in Liverpool. It is the duty of the local education 
authorities to maintain and keep efficient all public elementary schools 
in their area. Since the 1902 act there are two classes of elementary 
schools under public control — provided or council schools, for which 
the buildings have been provided out of public funds or have been 
transferred to the local education authority; and nonprovided or 
voluntary schools, which have been established out of private funds 
and are rented to the local education authorities on payment for the 
wear and tear of the buildings. The nonprovided schools are denomi- 
national, and religious education is given in them in accordance with 
their respective trust deeds. Except that the body of managers is 
differently constituted, that the buildings must be maintained in 
good repair by the managers, and that religious instruction of a par- 
ticular denomination is given, the nonprovided schools are now similar 
in every respect to the provided or council schools, the local authority 
being charged with the cost of maintenance generally. 

The education act of 1 902 provided further that certain local educa- 
tion authorities, as described above, may take such steps as shall 
seem desirable to supply or aid the supply of higher education and to 
promote the general coordination of all forms of education. The 
local education authorities quickly seized the opportunity of extend- 
ing the educational facilities in their area, and in addition to elemen- 
tary schools now provide higher elementary and central schools, 
trade schools, secondary schools, technical institutes, and evening 
education of all grades, assist institutions of university rank, and 
provide extensive scholarship schemes. The scope of the educational 
activity of the London County Council may be gathered from the 
following statement of the number of institutions maintained or 
aided by the Council: There are under the system 917 elementary 
schools; 9 special schools for the blind; 10 special schools for the deaf; 
35 special schools for the physically defective; 89 special schools for 
the mentally defective; 2 open-air schools; 8 industrial schools; 7 
training colleges for teachers; 10 trade schools; 3 schools of domestic 
economy; 277 evening-school centers; 20 secondary schools; and 17 
technical institutes, polytechnics, and schools of art; in addition the 
Council aids 42 secondary schools, 37 technical institutes, polytech- 
nics, and schools of art, and several institutions of university grade. 
The educational work of Manchester and Liverpool is organized on 
similar lines, but is necessarily less ambitious and extensive. 

Within recent years there has been a further extension of the func- 
tions of education authorities beyond the sphere of what has hitherto 
been regarded as pertaining to education. Since 1906 local education 
authorities are empowered by the education (Provision of Meals) act 



THE ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION. 13 

to provide meals for necessitous children attending the elementary 
schools. Since 1907 they have been charged with the medical inspec- 
tion of the elemental school children under the education (Admin- 
istrative Provisions) act, which also permits them to provide vacation 
schools, play centers, or other means of recreation during the holidays 
and at any other times. By the education (Choice of Employment) 
act, 1910, the authorities may also make arrangements for finding 
suitable employment for boys and girls on leaving school up to the 
age of 17. Thus the ever-increasing interest in child welfare is extend- 
ing the sphere of duties which have been assumed by local education 
authorities. 

The education committees delegate some part of their duties to 
local bodies interested in a particular school or group of schools. The 
position of such bodies, known as managers and care committees, 
which serve as links between the school or group of schools and the 
education committees, is dealt with in another chapter. 

The purely administrative work connected with education is in the 
hands of permanent officials, acting under a director of education, or, 
as he is known in London, the education officer. The directors of 
education are, as a general rule, selected for their ability and expe- 
rience as administrators rather than as educationists. At present the 
majority of such officials in England have gained their experience in 
education offices and have never been engaged in school work. An 
increasing number of positions of this type is being filled by men of 
university education, but teaching experience or training, other than 
that of office routine, is not required as a qualification. The director 
and his staff act as the professional advisers of the education com- 
mittee and initiate its educational policy. The work of the education 
office is divided among different departments, each of which is 
charged with some particular branch of administration. For admin- 
istrative purposes in connection with elementary education London 
is divided into 12 districts, each under a district inspector, who is 
assisted by a divisional correspondent to conduct all correspondence 
with managers and care committees, and a divisional superintendent 
concerned with matters affecting attendance, employment of children, 
and charges for meals and medical treatment. 

The supervision of education is in the hands of local inspectors and 
superintendents and organizers of special subjects, who must be dis- 
tinguished from the inspectors of the Board of Education. Under the 
London County Council there are 4 divisional inspectors who are con- 
cerned especially with secondary education; 12 district inspectors and 
12 assistant inspectors of elementary education; and the following 
special subjects inspectors and organizers: 6 for art, 12 for domestic 
economy, 5 for handicraft, 6 for physical exercises, 1 for infants' school 
method, 1 (part time) for music, 2 for science, and 2 for children's 



14 ELEMENTAKY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

care. In Manchester there are engaged for elementary school inspec- 
tion 4 inspectors and 8 assistant inspectors, with one superintendent 
for each of the special subjects, physical exercises, science instruction, 
drawing, manual work, and domestic economy subjects. The local 
inspectors are charged more particularly with the supervision of 
instruction and are required to report on the work of the teachers in 
the schools under their charge for purposes of promotion, increases of 
salary, etc. But the methods of supervision are no more intensive 
than those of the Government inspectors. Frequently the inspection 
takes the form of an examination of the pupils rather than of the 
teachers' methods of conducting their classes. The general routine 
inspection is usually conducted periodically by the assistant inspec- 
tors, the district inspectors as a rule confining their attentions to the 
weaker schools. The onus of maintaining the efficiency of the 
schools is thus thrown on the head teachers, who enjoy in return a 
greater degree of independence and confidence. Except in some of 
the special subjects, the local inspectors do not suggest or provide 
syllabuses. Schemes of work are drawn up in the case of the newer 
subjects like manual work and domestic subjects, but the tendency 
even in these subjects is to allow individual freedom as soon as the 
teachers appear to be sufficiently competent. 

The most prominent question of the present day in educational 
administration is the problem of raising money to meet the growing 
demands made upon local authorities. The only sources of income 
at present are the Government grant and local rates; the amounts 
derived from school fees and endowments are almost negligible. The 
cost of education has been increasing rapidly in the last few years. 
There has been an increase in the cost of buildings since the demands 
of the Board of Education in respect of accommodation have been 
raised, and more classrooms are needed; the cost of materials and of 
building has risen; local authorities are finding difficulties in pur- 
chasing sites for school buildings at reasonable rates; the newer 
schools are provided with larger playgrounds; special rooms and 
equipment are required for such subjects as handicrafts and domestic 
economy; medical inspection and the provision of meals have placed 
an additional burden on local authorities; the salaries of teachers rise 
automatically each year and add to the necessary expenditure, while 
the near future will probably see an agitation for higher scales of 
salary. To these items must be added the heavy cost for higher edu- 
cation of different types. It is impossible to open a school report 
issued in the last few years which does not refer to the unequal dis- 
tribution of the financial burden* between the Government and local 
authorities. Thus in London about 70 per cent of the cost of edu- 
cation is raised locally and in Manchester 54 per cent is thus found. 
The only new form of subvention in recent years has been an annual 



THE ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION. 15 

grant of $300,000 in respect of medical inspection. But no aid is 
given for school buildings, for which money is found by means of 
loans on the security of local rates. Under present conditions it is 
impossible to find other sources of revenue; the borrowing powers 
are linn ted by acts of Parliament; the local rates, although rising 
annually, can probably not stand further strain. The local authori- 
ties are accordingly constrained to look to the imperial exchequer 
for greater financial assistance than is forthcoming at present, although 
it is possible that a reform in the system of rating may still yield 
more local revenue than at present. 

The Government pays to the local authorities the following grants 
in respect of elementary education: (1) Aid grant of a sum equal to 
$1 per scholar, and an additional sum to areas of a low ratable value. 
(2) A fee grant of $2.50 per child in average attendance between the 
ages of- 3 and 15. This was introduced in 1891 to compensate the 
school boards for the abolition or reduction of fees. (3) An average 
attendance grant of nearly $3.50 per unit of average attendance 
between the ages of 3 and 5, and of nearly $5.50 for other scholars. 
(4) Special subjects grants in respect of instruction in handicrafts, 
gardening, and domestic subjects. Another form of grant for schools 
in areas with small populations does not affect the three educational 
authorities here considered. 

It will be noticed that no attempt is made to apportion the grants 
in proportion to local effort. Except for the grants for special sub- 
jects, no special assistance is given for educational experiments, or 
to encourage the employment of teachers with the highest qualifica- 
tions or toward the cost of buildings and the purchase of sites. The 
proportion has probably changed very slightly since 1910-11, and it 
is probable that the increase has been in the contribution from the 
local rates. 

Of the total expenditure on elementary schools the chief item is 
the cost of teachers' salaries. Not only have scales of salaries been 
revised with a consequent annual increase due to the automatic 
increment, but the percentage of teachers with the highest qualifi- 
cations, and therefore on the highest scale of pay, is rising every year, 
while the absolute number of teachers required is also increasing in 
consequence of the reduction in the size of classes. For the purposes 
of the Government grant the Board of Education recognizes the fol- 
lowing grades or classes of teachers: Certificated, that is, teachers who 
have gained the board's certificate either by passing through a recog- 
nized course of training or by passing the board's examinations with- 
out attending a training college; uncertificated teachers, that is, 
teachers who have passed the preliminary examination "for the ele- 
mentary school teacher's certificate or some equivalent examination; 
the rapidly disappearing class of supplementary teachers, who are 



16 



ELEMENTAKY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 



only recognized temporarily by the board; and student teachers or 
young persons who intend to enter the teaching profession. The 
number of scholars in average attendance for whom teachers of differ- 
ent classes may be considered equivalent varies. Thus a certificated 
teacher may be recognized for 60 children in average attendance, 
an uncertificated teacher for 35, a student or supplementary teacher 
for 20 children. In the larger areas, such as those which are at pres- 
ent under discussion, the number of teachers of the last two classes 
is practically negligible, and the bulk of the teachers are certificated 
or uncertificated. The former class is steadily increasing, as is indi- 
cated in the following comparison for the years 1908-9 and 1910-11 
(based on Board of Education statistics) : 



Class. 


London. 


Man- 
chester. 


Livery 
pool. 


Certificated: 

1908-9 


92.9 
95.0 

4.6 
2.7 


68.1 
70.7 

29.8 

27.7 


69.1 


1910-11 


74.9 


Uncertificated: 

1908-9 '. 


22.4 


1910-11 


20.5 







The percentage of women to the total number of teachers employed 
is as follows: London, 72.2; Manchester, 75.5; Liverpool, 78.5. 

The decrease in the number of scholars per teacher may also be 
compared for the two years, although the averages must be accepted 
with the usual reservation in reading such figures : 





London. 


Man- 
chester. 


Liver- 
pool. 


Average attendance: 

Per certificated teacher— 

1908 9 


41.3 
39.4 

38.4 
37.6 


49.1 
47.1 

33.4 
33.3 


45.8 


1910-11 


43.5 


Per uncertificated teacher — 

1908-9 - 


31.7 


1910-11 


32.7 







So far as the average size of class is concerned, the numbers here 
given fall considerably below the requirement of the board that no 
class under the instruction of one teacher shall exceed 60 in number. 
In anticipation of further reductions in the size of classes, local author- 
ities are in the newer buildings making provision for classes of 40. 
By arrangement with the Board of Education, the London County 
Council has decided to reduce the size of classes in its elementary 
schools to 40 in senior departments and 48 in infant departments. It 
is expected that the alterations in school buildings and the erection 
of new buildings to meet the increase of accommodation will take 15 
years. Every decimal point by which the average of 43.9 pupils per 
teacher is reduced means an increased expenditure each year of more 



BUREAU OF EDUCATION 



BULLETIN, 1913, NO. 57 PLATE 2 




A. A NEWLY ERECTED SCHOOL BUILDING, MANCHESTER. 









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B. A NEWLY ERECTED SCHOOL BUILDING, MANCHESTER. 



THE ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION. 17 

than $15,000. Similar reductions will be made in the new schools of 
Liverpool and Manchester. 

The qualifications of head teachers or principals of elementary 
schools have been raised, as well as those of assistant teachers. 
The Board of Education requires that for the future head teachers 
shall have been trained, as well as certificated. In London the 
requirement of collegiate training or other technical qualifications 
may be waived in the case of candidates of special merit or of candi- 
dates who possess a university degree. In addition to these quali- 
fications the London education committee requires that candidates 
shall have had 10 years' experience, if men, and 8 years, if women, 
in the London elementary schools. As a general rule, however, 
teachers do not receive appointments as head teachers until they have 
served in the schools, on the average, about 17 years. A promotion 
list of eligible teachers is drawn up each year by the teaching staff 
subcommittee, which considers the applications of the candidates 
and the reports on their work and fitness from the managers and 
inspectors. A promotion list contains the names of about 480 
teachers for different departments of schools, while the average num- 
ber of vacancies in each year is about 80. The competition for head 
teacherships is as severe in other cities, although no rigid rules as 
to the number of years of experience are laid down. Since 1905 the 
head teachers of the London elementary schools have been organized 
into local consultative committees, which meet six times a year and 
discuss matters of educational interest upon which their suggestions 
are desired. The education committee is kept in touch with the 
local consultative committees by two central consultative committees 
which are formed of representatives of the local bodies. Confer- 
ences of teachers and others whose assistance is regarded as valuable 
are also held from time to time to consider special subjects. An 
annual conference of teachers, corresponding to the American 
institutes, is held in January, at which papers on various subjects 
of educational importance are read and discussed. The annual 
conference is becoming more popular each year and is attended by 
persons interested in education who are not in the Council's service. 
London is probably the only local education authority in the country 
which avails itself of the expert advice and opinion of its teachers in 
the formal manner here described, and by the publication of reports 
of the conferences is making valuable contributions to the educa- 
tional literature of the country, second in importance only to the 
publications of the Board of Education. 

After the salaries of teachers have been paid, the heaviest, though 

much smaller, burden is the expenditure on land, buildings, and 

equipment. The local education authorities receive nq subsidy 

from the Government to meet the cost of sites and buildings, and 

4832°— 14 2 



18 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

the cost of the former is sometimes unnecessarily high. The expend- 
iture on buildings is constantly increasing, owing to the need of 
new schools, as a result of the natural increase of population, the 
development of new districts owing to the extension of traveling 
facilities, and the increased accommodation required as a consequence 
of the reduction in the size of classes. For various reasons the cost 
of erecting buildings has risen within recent years. Among these 
may be mentioned the raising of the minimum requirement of floor 
space per child over 8 years of age to 10 square feet; separate class- 
rooms are now provided in place of the large hall used by several 
classes, while the central hall for assembly and physical exercises 
is retained; the accommodation required for the teaching of special 
subjects, like handicrafts and domestic subjects, demands additional 
space; and greater attention is given to the hygienic requirements 
of school buildings, such as ventilation, heating, and lighting. There 
has also been a rise in building prices during the same period. The 
average cost of new buildings throughout the country varies from 
$50 to $70 per place, including the central hall, playground, etc. 1 
In London the cost is about $85 per place. Besides the cost of new 
buildings, there is also the expense of repairing and remodeling the 
old buildings. The Board of Education, through its inspectors, has 
the power to withhold grants if school premises appear to be unsatis- 
factory either in respect of accommodation or of sanitary arrange- 
ments. This power is, however, not exercised until after repeated 
warnings have been given. A new force has also arisen which may 
be of great service to the local education authorities in maintaining 
satisfactory hygienic conditions in the schools. Many of the school 
medical officers now refer to this question in their reports, and recom- 
mend alterations to secure improved methods of lighting and ventila- 
tion and other matters. London has adopted the plan of dealing 
with the old school buildings in rotation, and about 10 schools are 
selected for treatment each year as their needs may demand. Some 
schools are enlarged, in some a central hall is added, in others the 
staircases, cloakrooms, or other parts of the building require atten- 
tion, while in others again the playground may be extended by the 
demolition of surrounding property. In Manchester and Liverpool 
the dispersion of the population away from the center of the towns 
threatens the existence of some schools. To meet such contingencies, 
Manchester has adopted the plan of building or remodeling schools in 
such areas in a form that they can readily be adapted for use as 
offices or factories. 

The English school buildings are in general inferior from the archi- 
tectural point of view to the schools in certain German towns; and 

1 See Bd. of Ed., Rep. and Abs, of Evidence taken before the departmental committee on the cost of 
school buildings, ]911, 



THE ADMINISTRATION OF EDUCATION. 19 

in their internal arrangements, such as size of classrooms, cloak- 
rooms, ventilation, and other facilities, fall below the standards of 
schools in the United States. No. building can be erected or remod- 
eled by a local education authority until the plans and specifications 
have been submitted and approved by the Board of Education. The 
sanction of the local Government board has to be obtained for building 
loans, but this is only granted after the Board of Education has 
approved the plans. 1 The Board of Education does not commend 
schools of more than 500 or 600 scholars. Departments containing 
from 350 to 600 places are required to have central halls allowing 
about 4 square feet per scholar. On the question of central halls, 
however, there is at present some indecision, as unfavorable reports 
have been given about them on the ground that when they are used 
classes around them are liable to be disturbed, that they are dusty, 
and create difficulties in ventilating the classrooms. The building 
regulations of 1907, which are still in force, recommend classrooms 
for from 50 to 60 scholars, allowing 10 square feet for each; these 
numbers are, in fact, being gradually reduced. The classrooms are, 
as a rule, equipped with dual desks, which are usually not graded, 
except in the infants' departments ; the long desks and seats without 
back rests have, however, not disappeared entirely, and even find 
favor with some teachers because "they make the children sit up." 
The rooms, even in the newer schools, are so small and compact 
that they permit of nothing but seat work; the provision of space 
in front of the class is generally very scanty. The matter of interior 
decoration appears to have received little attention up to the present; 
nor is there any definite policy in the selection of pictures for the 
rooms, for many pictures are found in infants' departments which 
would seem more suited to the upper classes, and vice versa. The 
authorities are undoubtedly handicapped by the fact that suitable 
school pictures are not published in England, as they are in Germany. 
An interesting reform is, however, noticeable in many of the progres- 
sive infant schools, in which the teachers draw large pictures in crayon 
or pastel to illustrate the stories or other lessons of each class. It is 
very probable that a school will shortly be set aside in Liverpool for 
the purpose of experimenting on the general question of school 
decoration and school art. 

Very few schools have such elaborate systems of artificial ventila- 
tion as are found in American schools ; the open windows in summer, 
combined with open fires in winter, appear to be satisfactory, although 
special air chimneys and inlets are also to be found. For heating 
purposes the open fire or hot-water pipes are in most general use, and 
about 55° to 60° of warmth is regarded as the normal standard. 
Lighting, especially in some of the older schools, does not always 



1 See Board of Education, building regulations. iw»7. 



20 ELEMENTAKY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

reach the standards laid down in school hygiene, but it is only in 
the exceptional cases that classes are so arranged that they do not 
receive the light from the left; the chief difficulty is in the matter 
of artificial lighting, which is necessary on many winter days. The 
commonest form of light is incandescent gas; electricity is installed 
in new schools, and open gas jets still survive in some schools. The 
attention which this problem is receiving from the school medical 
officers may prevent such eyestrain as must have been involved in 
a classroom where, on a dark day, the teacher sent individual scholars 
to the window to enable them to see what they were reading. Prob- 
ably the least satisfactory features are the inadequate provision of 
lavatory accommodation and the retention of the common drinking 
cups, for no school is yet provided either with individual drinking 
cups or with drinking fountains. One of the most important features 
of the newer schools is the amount of space devoted to the play- 
ground, in many cases exceeding the requirements of the Board of 
Education. This importance of the playground is dealt with in a 
separate chapter. 

But, burdensome as the expenditure on education maybe, it has 
the immense advantage of serving as a means of arousing public 
interest in the general subject. Never was this opportunity greater 
than at present, and the press is wisely making good use of it. There 
are not in England, as there are in America, publicity campaigns, 
and the average citizen knows little of what goes on in the schools. 
The increasing expenditure may well be the beginning of his education 
in such matters. 



Chapter II. 

SCHOOL MANAGERS AND CARE COMMITTEES. 

Probably no other educational system in the world has the advan- 
tage of so much voluntary assistance in its administration as that of 
England. Whatever truth there may be in the charges that the 
system is becoming more and more centralized and the control more 
bureaucratic, the fact remains that by a principle of devolution a 
great deal of the management of the schools is left in the hands of 
the people or their representatives. The local bodies which are in 
this way interested in the administration of educational affairs are 
the local education authorities, school managers, and in an increasing 
number of places the school care committees. The chief executive 
and legislative power in the various local areas is vested, subject to 
the national statutes and the control of the Board of Education, in 
the local education committee, which is dealt with on pages lOfT. 

Under the education act of 1902 every local education authority 
must appoint a body of managers for each school or group of schools 
under its control. The number of managers for each school is usually 
four, but this number may be exceeded. In the case of nonprovided 
schools the body of managers consists of foundation managers and 
representatives of the education authority in the proportion of 4 to 2. 
The managers deal "with such matters relating to the management 
of the school and subject to such conditions and restrictions as the 
local education authority determine." In London 1 the schools are 
arranged in groups of three or four, under a body of 12 to 18 mana- 
gers, two-thirds representing the immediate district and the remainder 
appointed by the Council. Meetings are held usually once a month, 
but one meeting in three months is compulsory. The powers and 
duties of the managers are in the main advisory, without any finan- 
cial control except of voluntary funds for specific purposes. The 
managers may visit the schools of their group and have access to the 
school records (log book, punishment book, time book, attendance 
and medical registers). They may advise the Council in matters 
affecting the school premises, such as alterations, enlargements, ven- 
tilation, lighting, heating, and sanitary conditions, and furniture. 
Managers may be consulted, but have no vote in the appointment 
of head teachers, but they themselves nominate for appointment 
assistant teachers and school keepers. Although they have the power 

i L. C. C. Regulations with regard to the education service. Managers of public elementary schools, 1911. 

21 



22 ELEMENTAKY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

to investigate complaints against teachers, managers can only make 
recommendations to the Council as a result of such inquiry. In 
relation to the children, managers are expected to interest themselves 
in their attendance, especially of truant children, and where children 
are employed out of school hours to see that the regulations of the 
Employment of Children Act, 1903, are observed. They may arrange 
for the distribution of prizes, for open days, and entertainments, and 
for a limited number of half holidays during the year. Since mana- 
gers are selected generally on account of their interest in local public 
welfare, it is expected that they will see that the schools under their 
care make full use of the local swimming baths, museums, and places 
of local interest, that they will stimulate the establishment of school 
savings banks, and will draw the attention of children about to leave 
school to the advantages of thrift and benefit societies. For the same 
reason they may advise children and parents in matters of appren- 
ticeship and employment, and the value of further education after 
leaving school. It will be obvious, then, that the general duty of 
managers is to secure efficiency of administration by performing 
locally such tasks as are of immediate local interest, and to act gen- 
erally as an advisory council to the head teachers in their relations 
with the local public. The managers are, of course, unsalaried and 
undertake their duties voluntarily. It follows, accordingly, that the 
efficiency of any body of managers depends upon the individuality 
of its members. The tenure of office is for three years, but the Council 
may terminate the office of any member who has neglected his or 
her duties, or is unsuitable for the office, or makes during any one 
year less than three attendances at the meetings of the body to which 
he or she belongs, or less than four visits to schools comprised in the 
group under its charge. 

The system of managers has been more or less developed in other 
cities along similar lines. In some the function of the managers 
appears to be purely nominal, as in Manchester; in others their 
duties and usefulness appear to be as important as in London. In 
Liverpool the head teachers value the cooperation of their managers 
and consider that they perform a useful function in mediating on the 
one hand between the head teacher and the education committee, 
and on the other between the school and the public. 

Side by side with the managers, another body, the care committee, 
has been recently established in a few cities. While the managers 
are interested in the main in the administrative work of the schools, 
the care committees direct their efforts to the charitable and philan- 
thropic. The system of care committees is perhaps more prominent 
and better organized in London than elsewhere. Children's care 
(school) committees were first established in London in connection 
with necessitous schools for the purposes of the education (Provision 



SCHOOL MANAGERS AND CARE COMMITTEES. 23 

of Meals) act, 1906. In 1909 it was decided to appoint a care com-, 
mittee for each public elementary school and to extend their scope 
to include the general supervision of the welfare of children. The 
school care committees are organized into local associations of school 
care committees, and all are under the control of the children's care 
(central) subcommittee of the education committee. 1 

A children's care (school) committee consists of representatives 
(two or three) of the managers of the school, who may nominate an 
equal number of voluntary workers from a list supplied by the chil- 
dren's care (central) subcommittee, which also has power to add not 
more than one-third of the whole number of members. The com- 
mittees are reconstituted annually. The voluntary workers include 
members of associations dealing with children and others interested 
in the welfare of children and social work. The routine work is 
conducted by an honorary secretary, who is usually a member of the 
committee and may be a teacher. Paid organizers are appointed by 
the Council to advise the committees. Meetings are held once a 
fortnight or, if necessary, once a week. 

The duties of the care committees are to make themselves 
acquainted with the home conditions of the children attending the 
elementary schools and, by means of advice to the parents and reme- 
dial measures that are provided, to secure such an improvement as 
will enable the children to benefit by the instruction provided in the 
schools. In connection with the feeding of children they visit the 
homes of necessitous children and inquire into the causes of distress, 
draw the attention of parents to local charitable organizations, find 
employment for members of the family, and talk to the mothers on 
housekeeping and food values. In the course of such visits members 
of the care committees obtain information which may lead to inquiries 
and prosecutions under the Children Act, 1908,- which is intended for 
the safety and protection of children and for their removal from evil 
environments. Their duties have been further extended to cover 
medical inspection, for their relations with the parents place the 
members in a position where they can advise as to the means of 
securing the medical treatment recommended by the medical officer 
or of carrying out any other recommendations; they also assist the 
authorities to obtain payment for medical treatment provided in 
proportion to the financial conditions of the parents. Besides these 
important functions the care committees are expected to interest 
themselves in the general welfare of school children ; thus they may 
encourage thrift, the establishment of clubs and other means of recrea- 
tion out of school hours, the institution of boot clubs, and the opening 
of play centers and vacation schools. To the older children about to 

i L. C. C. Handbook containing general information with reference to the work in connection with the 
children's care (central) subcommittee, 1910. 



24 ELEMENTAKY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

leave school they may offer advice as to their future careers and the 
means of obtaining employment or bring to their notice the facilities 
existing for apprenticeship or the opportunities for further education 
in evening schools. 

In order to coordinate the work of the school care committees, 
local associations of these committees have been established. These 
consist of 18 members, representing the care committees of the schools, 
the teachers' consultative committees, and the children's care (cen- 
tral) subcommittee. The local associations collect voluntary contri- 
butions toward the cost of feeding, manage the feeding centers, 
disburse money locally for this purpose, and discuss the methods of 
selecting necessitous children within their areas and questions affect- 
ing the physical welfare of the children. They may further prevent 
any overlapping in the matter of aftercare and employment of 
children. 

There are in London close on to 1,000 care committees, in connec- 
tion with which there are about 6,000 voluntary workers. The 
school care committees are grouped into 27 local associations, one 
for each of the districts into which the county is divided for educa- 
tional purposes. As in the case of the managers, there is consider- 
able variation in the amount and value of the work performed by 
the different committees. In some the work and interest are very 
good; in others there is a tendency to shift the burden upon the most 
active members. The opportunities opened up within recent years 
for this type of social work have led to the institution of courses in 
problems dealing with social welfare, notably at the London School 
of Economics and in several of the provincial universities. 

Care committees have not as yet been established in many of the 
local education areas. The system has been introduced recently into 
Liverpool in order to provide an organization "to look after the 
welfare of the child's body during school age, to extend a paternal 
interest and helping hand to him at the leaving age, and, so far as the 
continuation schools and employment are concerned, to watch over 
his interests for a few years after he leaves the elementary school." 
Since it summarizes the character of work done in some of the towns 
where the care committees have already been established, the follow- 
ing list of the committee activities, taken from a memorandum by 
the director of education for Liverpool, may be of interest : 

1. To select necessitous children for feeding from the list provided by the head 
teacher or other agency. 

2. To revise the list at each meeting and see that a name is removed when the case 
ceases to be necessitous. 

3. To act as supervisor of the feeding centers. 

4. To determine whether to take steps toward the recovery of the cost of the food 
supplied to a child. 

5. To hear appeals on such cases. 



SCHOOL MANAGERS AND CARE COMMITTEES. 25 

6. To assist children's aid societies, and others of a similar nature, in distributing 
their gifts of boots and clothing to the best advantage. 

7. To classify all cases in which medical treatment is recommended into (1) hos- 
pital cases, (2) cases for treatment at dispensary or by private practitioner, (3) cases 
for charitable assistance (trusses, etc.), (4) cases for home treatment. 

8. To secure a voucher card for hospital cases. 

9. To insure, by visiting the home, that the appropriate medical treatment is 
actually carried out, and that spectacles and other appliances are provided as ordered. 

10. To assess what charge, if any, should be laid upon the parents. 

11. To recommend legal action against parents under sections of the children act 
where parents refuse or neglect to carry out the necessary treatment. 

12. To receive installments of payments for spectacles or tooth brushes provided at 
cost price by the authority, and for other medical treatment charges. 

13. To aid in getting up for parents evening lectures on health, circulating "Health 
Hints" to parents, dental information, etc. 

14. To supplement hospital returns by collecting information as to cases in dis- 
pensaries or under private doctors. 

15. To apply pressure when cleanliness is at fault, and procure either adequate 
home washing or public cleansing under order of the school medical officer. 

16. To influence the parent in choosing a suitable occupation for the child, espe- 
cially where vision or any health defect may be a determining factor. 

17. To place parents and children in touch with juvenile employment bureaus. 

18. To see that leaving reports are ready for the child when he leaves school. 

19. To encourage and supervise the work of evening play centers and vacation 
schools. 

20. To encourage such outside movements as the Boy Scouts, cadet corps, etc., in 
which children of school age may take part, to their great advantage in physical train- 
ing and in the sense of discipline. 

21. To cooperate with the children's holiday societies, etc., and decide on the most 
suitable cases for their help. 



Chapter III. 

ORGANIZATION, CLASSIFICATION, AND COORDINA- 
TION OF SCHOOLS. 

Those who are acquainted with the uniform type of elementary 
school of the United States will be struck with the variety in the 
organization of the English elementary schools. There coexist side 
by side in the same system the ordinary elementary school with its 
infants' department and departments for boys and girls; the school 
with its infants' department, junior mixed and senior mixed depart- 
ments; the school with its infants' department, a junior mixed, and 
senior departments for boys and girls separately. Each of the 
departments mentioned is as a rule under a separate head teacher, but 
in Liverpool some 15 schools, with infants', junior mixed, and senior 
mixed, or senior boys' and girls' departments, have been placed under 
the general charge of a principal who is assisted by head teachers over 
each department. Schematically the various types of schools may 
be indicated thus : 



I. 


II. 


III. 


Infants. 


Infants. 


Infants. 


Boys. 


Junior mixed. 


Junior mixed 


Girls. 


Senior mixed. 


Senior boys. 
Senior girls. 



What the particular advantages of each type are it is difficult to say, 
and so far as the teachers themselves are concerned the answer to this 
question depends largely on their attitude toward coeducation and the 
influence of the woman teacher. The head teachers of mixed schools 
are invariably in favor of the coeducation system, on the plea that the 
presence of boys in a class helps to stimulate the efforts and to raise 
the standard of the girls' work, while the presence of the girls has a 
good disciplinary effect on the boys and tones them down. The 
mixed system admittedly involves some difficulties of organization 
in the case of the older boys and girls whose industrial work must be 
differentiated, with the consequent trouble of arranging a suitable 
time-table. Although the women in general are opposed to the mixed 
system, which means fewer principalships for them, the women teach- 
ers engaged in such schools are ardent supporters of the mixed classes 
and recognize little difference between the boys and girls; the oppo- 
nents are usually the men teachers in those senior departments for 
boys who have come up from a junior mixed department. Here the 
objection is made that the instruction of the boys by women has not 
26 



ORGANIZATION, CLASSIFICATION, AND COORDINATION. 27 

been thorough and that, on the disciplinary side, the boys have not 
been kept sufficiently under control and are consequently restless 
and fidgety. Another objection raised, also usually by men, is that 
in certain subjects, such as arithmetic and geography, the girls are 
poorer than the boys and consequently are a hindrance to rapid 
progress. These opinions are quoted for what they are worth; it 
would be impertinent without further investigation to attempt to 
pass judgment on them. 

More serious are some of the complaints made by one department 
against the work of another. There are not infrequently cases where 
there is apparently an absence of understanding and sympathy 
between the 1 infants' department and those for older scholars or 
between a junior and a senior department. The higher division 
seems to demand greater attainments in the scholars, or there is dis- 
satisfaction with the discipline or instruction of the lower division. 
To obviate difficulties of this nature, provision has been made in the 
London schools for two annual conferences between the head teachers 
of all the departments for the discussion of questions of management 
and the coordination of teaching methods in writing, arithmetic, 
drawing, and other subjects in which common action is desirable. 1 
An improvement on this has, however, been made in Liverpool by the 
appointment of organizing principals in 15 schools, with charge over 
all the departments. Such a system, practically the same as in the 
large elementary schools of the United States, provides automati- 
cally for coordination in all branches and for the maintenance of uni- 
form standards of work. The system is found to work successfully, 
but is meeting with some objection, partly from the Board of Educa- 
tion, which is opposed to large schools such as this organization 
involves, partly from the rank and file of the teachers, who feel that 
the head teachers of departments necessarily assume a subordinate 
position under the principals, and that the number of principalships 
is so small as to narrow the opportunities for promotion. But there 
can be little doubt that the appointment of an organizing principal 
meets many of the objections which arise from the existence of inde- 
pendent departments side by side. There is the further advantage 
that with the subdivision of labor more time is left for the supervision 
of teaching by the departmental head teachers, and more for the 
purely administrative work of a large school by the principals. 

The elementary schools, excluding the infants' departments, are 
organized on the basis of seven standards, with the addition in many 
cases of an extra standard known as the Ex-VIIth. Where a junior 
department exists the scholars are taken up to Standard III, or in 
some cases to Standard II, and the remaining four standards consti- 
tute the senior department. The division into seven standards 

i L. C. C. Elementary Schools Handbook, p. 30. 



28 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

assumes that the scholars enter from the infants' department at the 
age of 7 and pass through the school at the rate of a standard a year. 
This is probably the rate of progress for the average scholar, but the 
very sound principle has been adopted that a scholar shall not be 
retained in a class long after he has shown his ability to master the 
work assigned to it. Fortunately the head teachers under most sys- 
tems have been allowed complete freedom in classifying and promot- 
ing their scholars, and the Board of Education imposes no restric- 
tions and offers no suggestion in the matter, although instances of 
serious retardation would at once be inquired into. Some attempt 
is made in the infants' departments to promote the scholars on their 
proficiency, but as a general rule age is ordinarily the chief guide, 
especially in promoting from the infants' to the upper school. 

In the standards, or grades for the older children, the ordinary 
promotion of the average scholar takes place at the end of the school 
year. Promotion is made on the basis of a final annual examination 
conducted by the head teacher, the records of the examinations con- 
ducted throughout the year, which may take place two, three, or four 
times in the year, and the teachers' reports. There is thus no rigid 
passing grade as in American schools. From 90 to 95 per cent of the 
pupils are thus promoted at the end of the school year. But the 
brighter pupils may be promoted at any time during the year on the 
results of one of the intermediate examinations. About 10 per cent 
of the scholars thus pass through two standards in a year. The 
examinations are universally conducted by the head teachers, and are 
oral and written. The subjects of examination to which the chief 
importance is attached are reading, writing, spelling and composi- 
tion, and arithmetic, to which drawing is sometimes added. The 
other subjects of the curriculum are generally tested orally. The 
examination not only serves as a test of the scholars, but is too fre- 
quently the only form which supervision of the teaching takes. 

In London a somewhat more rigid system of promotions has been 
introduced recently. Here provision has been made for the semi- 
annual promotion of a large number of the pupils. "Such pro- 
motions," it is prescribed, " shall be based on the educational 
attainments of the children. Regard shall be had to the age of the 
children and to the accommodation provided by the several class- 
rooms." 1 As a consequence, accommodation becomes the guiding 
principle, for evidently it is an administrative measure intended to 
keep the classrooms full. The principle has, indeed, been character- 
ized as the "structural principle of promotion." The practice is ren- 
dered more unsatisfactory by the fact that the syllabus for each class 
or standard has been drawn up for a year's work, with the result that 
pupils who are promoted to a new standard must either miss a whole 
year's work; i. e., half a year in the standard from which they come 

1 Elementary Schools Handbook, p. 14. 



ORGANIZATION, CLASSIFICATION, AND COORDINATION. 29 

and half a year in the standard to which they are promoted, or those 
scholars who remain in a standard must be kept at a standstill to 
enable the newcomers to reach their level. A remedy may perhaps 
be found, although not without considerable difficulty, by organizing 
syllabuses on a half-yearly basis. Provision is still made for promo- 
tions at other times "under exceptional circumstances." 

The simple scheme of promoting the brighter pupils twice in one 
year or giving them a double promotion at the end of the school 
year is possible in all schools. Where the schools are so large that 
each standard may consist of two or more classes, further variations 
can be introduced, and a finer classification is possible. Thus in one 
school in Liverpool some of the standards have A, B, and C classes; 
the A class does a little more than the year's syllabus for the standard, 
the B class proceeds at the normal pace, the C class makes somewhat 
slower progress with the ordinary syllabus. But all these classes 
receive the normal promotion. Side by side with this system further 
provision is made for the bright pupils, who between the ages of 
8 and 9 (Standard II) are placed in a separate group to do the work 
of two standards in one year, at the end of which they are promoted 
to Standard IV. On reaching the next standard these pupils are 
selected to become candidates for free places and scholarships in the 
secondary schools. In another large Liverpool sch'ool the standards 
are divided into A and B sections, but, in addition, the bright scholars 
are grouped together in two classes to do the work of three years in 
two, i. e., one of these classes does the work of Standards I, II, III 
in two years, and another, which may be differently constituted either 
because some of the scholars do not maintain their position or because 
other bright scholars may be discovered in other classes, do the work 
of Standards IV, V, VI in two years. 

Whatever the system employed, adequate provision seems to be 
made everywhere for the promising scholars. This is further indi- 
cated by the fact that the minimum age of entrance for scholarships 
and free places to secondary schools, the examinations for which are 
based on the work of Standard V or even higher, has been placed as 
low as 10 (in Manchester and Liverpool) or 11 (in London). The 
average scholar would, however, only reach Standard V between the 
ages of 11 and 12. It is thus not uncommon to find that the age range 
of the scholars in Standard VII or Ex- VII is from 11 to 14. The 
system has its defects, but these are not inherent. It is expected 
that the scholar who is rapidly promoted will proceed to a higher 
type of school at any rate by the time he is 12; but no provision is 
made for those scholars who reach the top standard at the age of 1 1 or 
12 and do not, for some reason or other, leave, and who, consequently, 
spend their remaining time in school in repeating the syllabus. This 
topic, the broadening of the curriculum for the top classes, is referred 
to elsewhere (see p. 54), 



30 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

However satisfactory the provision for the bright scholars may be, 
the question of the backward pupil has only recently begun to receive 
attention. It is impossible to give any statistics of retardation for 
English elementary schools, because no reports contain a distribu- 
tion of scholars by ages and standards, nor would it be wise to attempt 
an estimate. Further, without some degree of uniformity, it is 
doubtful whether such statistics would have any value as a test. 
Just as there are scholars of 1 1 years of age in Standard VII, so there 
are scholars of 14 in Standards IV and V, and the incidence is prob- 
ably higher for schools in poor neighborhoods than in better-class 
districts. It is perhaps of interest to mention that the question of 
backwardness has been brought to the front by the school medical 
officers. In Manchester the dull pupils were noticed by one of the 
assistant medical officers by the fact that they took a longer time to 
answer the questions put to them than did the normal pupils, and 
their backwardness was confirmed by a reference to their standard, 
which was usually below the normal. Of 800 boys about 13 years 
of age, 62.5 per cent were in Standards VI and VII and 37.5 were 
distributed among the first five standards; of 700 girls, 57.2 percent 
were in Standards VI and VII, while 42.8 were in the first five 
standards. In another investigation a girls' school in a poor district 
was selected, and it was found that of 254 children in the school 187 
were below Standard V, and of these 104 were distinctly backward. 
It is not necesssary here to enter into the physical defects which 
were found to accompany the mental backwardness; the figures are 
only quoted to indicate to what extent the retardation may be 
found to exist. 

The school medical officer of Manchester in his report for 1909-10 
recommended the establishment of special classes attached to the 
ordinary schools or even the establishment of intermediate schools 
to deal with these cases of backwardness or dullness which are not 
sufficiently serious for admission to special schools for mental defec- 
tives. There is, however, a very general opposition on the part of 
teachers to the establishment of special backward classes, on the 
ground that it is unfair to label a child, as placing in a backward class 
would do, and that the presence of normal and even bright children 
in a class serves as a stimulus to the backward child. These objec- 
tions seem somewhat unreasonable as well as unfair to the scholars 
of all types. For, if the normal scholars set the pace, the backward 
ones fall irretrievably behind, while special attention to them involves 
loss of progress for the normal scholars. Nor are the large classes 
calculated to afford a teacher time to give that special attention which 
the backward scholars need. Provision has, of course, been made 
for the slow pupils, but for the dull or backward it is only just being 
organized. The tendency is to give such children more manual than 
literary work. An experiment is being conducted in a London school 



ORGANIZATION, CLASSIFICATION, AND COORDINATION. 31 

in a very poor district in providing a curriculum with a practical bias 
for scholars of the class under consideration. The school which has 
been reconstructed is equipped, in addition to the ordinary classrooms, 
with a science-demonstration room, a practical workroom, and wood 
and metal workshops for the boys, and a science-demonstration room 
dressmaking room, and denies tic-economy rooms- for the girls. The 
size of the classes is reduced to 40. The chief emphasis of the curricu- 
lum is placed on handwork — paper, clay, and cardboard modeling and 
wood and metal work for the boys, and for the girls clay and paper 
modeling, designing, cookery, laundry work, housewifery, needle- 
work, embroidery, and dressmaking. The teachers have been spe- 
cially selected for their sympathy with industrial occupations in edu- 
cation. 1 Where the special classes have been established in the 
ordinary schools in London, Liverpool, and Manchester, the same 
attention is given to the manual and industrial occupations as a 
means of training the backward child, and in many instances the 
special class is known as the industrial. But considerably more can 
be done for this class than is done at present, for in London only 
20 to 30 schools out of the 917 made special arrangements in 1911, 
and the proportion is probably the same in other towns. There is no 
doubt, however, now that its importance has been recognized, that 
much attention will be given to this problem of school administration. 

COORDINATION OF SCHOOLS. 

A radical difference between the English and American systems of 
school organization is the difficulty in the former of coordinating the 
elementary and secondary schools. The American high school 
receives its pupils after they have completed the elementary school 
course and builds up its curriculum on that foundation. The Eng- 
lish secondary schools receive their pupils from a variety of schools — 
special preparatory schools or elementary schools — and the pupils 
on entering may vary in age from about 10 to 14. But the question 
of coordinating the elementary and secondary schools did not become 
pressing until recent years, when the number of pupils entering from 
the elementary schools began to increase considerably, and local 
education authorities were empowered to provide all types of schools. 
It is felt that under the present system there is much overlapping 
and that a boy who enters the secondary school from the elementary 
at the age of 11 or 12 with a scholarship or a free admission or as a 
fee-paying pupil must for a time repeat much of the work that he 
has already done, except in languages and science and perhaps 
mathematics. The secondary schools prefer to receive their pupils 
at least under 12 years of age, for it is held that in certain subjects, 
especially languages, progress becomes increasingly difficult after 
that age. This problem may, however, not be so urgent if a new 

I L.CC, fcn, Ren.ioii, vol, iv.p.9. 



32 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

type of secondary school be organized with a curriculum on the 
basis of English, science, and mathematics. As a general rule, 
pupils who do not leave the elementary schools for the secondary at 
the age of 12 or in some cases 13 are hardly likely to enter at all. 
With this in view the following suggestion is contained in the Ele- 
mentary School Code (introduction) : 

It will be an important though subsidiary object of the school to discover indi- 
vidual children who show promise of exceptional capacity and to develop their 
special gifts (so far as this can be done without sacrificing the interests of the majority 
of the children), so that they may be qualified to pass at the proper age into secondary 
schools and to be able to derive the maximum benefit from the education there offered 
them. 

The absence of coordination is thus avoided by securing the entry 
of pupils to the secondary schools at the earliest possible age. Some 
experiments have been undertaken to secure better coordination. 
In Nottingham an experiment is conducted in two council elementary 
schools of admitting, after an entrance examination, pupils between 
the ages of 9 and 10, and, in addition to the ordinary curriculum, of 
including French, algebra, and geometry. Many secondary schools 
in the country are either providing special classes for scholars 
from elementary schools in order to prepare them to take their 
proper place in the school or classify the scholars by subjects. 1 The 
question is, however, far from being solved, nor is a solution likely to 
be reached by tinkering with the present organization. Any thor- 
oughly conceived reconstruction will have to take into account a 
reorganization of the whole system, and not merely to make the ele- 
mentary school fit the secondary, but to provide for greater differ- 
entiation at the top of the elementary school for the large majority 
who can not proceed to the secondary school. 

In addition to the opportunity of entering a secondary school the 
elementary school pupil may proceed to the higher elementary or 
the central school at the age of 11 or 12 or to the trade school between 
the ages of 13 and 14 or in some cases 15. Here the problem of 
coordination is practically settled, for these schools are intended to 
continue the work of the elementary schools. The problem of coor- 
dinating with technical schools does not arise, for very few pupils 
enter these schools from the elementary schools directly. Finally 
the work of the evening schools is in general so varied that the ele- 
mentary school pupil has no difficulty in finding the course or classes 
suited to his capacity and attainments. It is obvious, therefore, 
that in those institutions originally established and controlled by 
local authorities the problem of coordination is practically solved. 
The chief difficulty centers round the relations of the elementary 
schools and the secondary school which so long had a separate 
existence and has developed its own traditions for its own needs. 

i See Bd. of Ed., Rep. for year 1911-12. 



Chapter IV. 

SCHOOL ATTENDANCE AND ITS ENFORCEMENT. 

The returns relative to the attendance of children at the ordinary 
elementary schools are impressive. In the school year 1910-11, the 
last for which a summary is available, the percentage of average 
number of scholars to the average number on the registers for England 
was 89.16 for scholars of all ages, 76.50 for scholars between 3 and 5 
years of age, and 89.96 for scholars of the ages of 5 and over. These 
figures bear remarkable testimony to the efficiency of the organization 
for securing and enforcing school attendance. Before turning to this 
it must be pointed out that a large proportion of the Government 
grant for education is paid on the basis of school attendances, no 
grant being given for less than 400 school sessions. Hence a 
decrease in the school attendance means a considerable financial loss 
to the local education authority, and in Manchester a difference of 
1 per cent in attendance means a difference of $5,000 in the grant. 
An efficient organization to secure a high standard of attendance is 
therefore of financial value to the local education authorities. Exces- 
sive zeal in this respect is indicated in some places by the complaints 
of the authorities that the more stringent requirements of school 
medical officers are leading to a reduction of the Government grant. 

Three factors contribute to make school attendance what it is: 
Public opinion, the teachers, and the special agencies, supported in 
the last resort by the law. Since 1870 public opinion in England has 
been educated up to the point where daily attendance at school is 
accepted as the normal incident in a child's life, only to be interrupted 
in the case of illness. In London the percentage of average attend- 
ance to the average number on the registers rose from 78.3 in 1871 to 
89.4 in 1911. The following diagram indicates the growth of the 
average attendance in the public elementary schools of Manchester 
as compared with the growth of the population since 1871. 

Among the several factors which have led to this advanced state of 
public opinion, no little credit is due to the interest of the teachers, 
who have inculcated so successfully the lessons of regular and punctual 
attendance. Shields, banners, and badges are offered for class com- 
petition in some schools, while weekly badges and annual prizes are 
awarded to individual scholars for good attendances. In the London 
schools — 

in order to encourage punctuality and regularity of attendance, teachers are author- 
ized to provide some attraction, recreative or otherwise, for the children during the 
4832°— 14 3 33 



34 



ELEMENTAKY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 



last half-hour on Friday afternoons. The children of any one class in any department 
(other than central schools) may be dismissed after two hours' secular instruction has 
been given during the afternoon, but this privilege is to be exercised only on Friday 
afternoons. 

It is the practice in every school in the country to display in a 
prominent position the attendance at each session, either for the 
whole school or by classes. The head teachers may cooperate with 
the attendance officers by notifying parents of the absence of their 
children from school. 

But the chief burden of enforcing attendance falls on the school 
attendance officers, and in the last resort on the police courts. The 







1871 


1881 


1891 


1901 


1911 


Percentage of 
Attendance 
to Population 


Population 
of City, 
351,189 


Population 
of City, 
341,414 


Population 
of City, 
505,368 


Population 
of City, 

543,872 


Population 
of City, 
714,427 


Average 

Attendance, 

23,000 


Average 

Attendance, 

41,000 


Average 

Attendance, 

76,000 


Average 

Attendance, 

88,500 


Average 
Attendance, 

109,398 


18 Per Cent 






















16 " 

15 " 

14 ■' 

13 " 

12 " 

11 " 

10 " 

9 '* 

8 " 

7 " 

6 " 
5 " 


« 


















































































/ 










/ 










/ 





















Diagram 1.— Illustrating the growth of the average attendance in the public elementary schools of the 
city as compared with the growth of the population. 

school attendance officers are responsible to the local education 
authorities not only for following up the absentees from the schools, 
but also for supplying information on the number of children of 
elementary school age. In London the school attendance officers 
annually make a schedule of the children of school age who are likely 
to enter an elementary school. The schedule is drawn up mainly on 
the basis of the number of children residing in houses of a certain 
annual rating or less. This affords the education committee both an 
estimate of the number of children who should be in school and an 
indication of the school accommodation likely to be required. A 
similar system of taking the school census prevails in other cities and 



SCHOOL ATTENDANCE AND ITS ENFORCEMENT. 35 

is conducted by the school attendance officers. Their chief function, 
however, is to trace absentees by visiting their homes. The Man- 
chester system of conducting this work, since it is typical, will indicate 
its scope and effectiveness. This city in 1911 had a population of 
714,427, and there were 122,141 scholars on the rolls, with an average 
attendance of 109,398, or 90 per cent. To supervise school attendance 
there were employed 62 school attendance officers, 3 district inspec- 
tors, and 1 superintendent. The city is divided into 57 districts, 
with an average population of 12,534 and an average of 2,143 children 
of school age. Those officers who are not engaged in district work 
are employed either in clerical work, industrial school cases, rota, 
and police court proceedings. The officers in charge of the districts 
visit each school at least once a week and on Fridays receive a duplicate 
register of the attendances for the week. 1 All the doubtful cases — that 
is, where less than 10 attendances have been made — are visited in the 
following week and investigations are made into the cause of absence. 
Usually one visit is sufficiently effective, but where the result is not 
satisfactor}^, the parents, before proceedings are taken against them 
either under the statute or under the local by-law, are given an oppor- 
tunity to attend a meeting of one of the rota committees. These 
committees, which consist of representatives of the education com- 
mittee, meet in local centers periodically, once or twice a month 
according to the needs of a district, and by warning parents reduce 
the number of cases to be prosecuted before the magistrates. In 
London the local attendance committees for each electoral district, 
and in Liverpool the courts of appeal for each attendance district, 
mediate in a similar way between the school attendance officers and 
the police court. The rota committees thus dealt with 8,099 cases 
in 1911 in Manchester, of which about one-eighth only were further 
summoned to appear before the magistrates. When cases are taken 
into court, parents are liable to a penalty of $5, while refractory 
children may be committed to industrial schools (described in Ch. 
XIV). 

Within the past few years the sphere of duties of the school attend- 
ance officers has been extended. Under many local education 
authorities the officers conduct the inquiries into the home conditions 
of children who are considered to be necessitous, as authorized by the 
education (Provision of Meals) act, 1906. Their assistance has also 
been found to be of great service in connection with the system of 
school medical inspection, and under some authorities they take 
children to the cleansing stations. They are in a position as a result 
of their investigations and home visitations to bring to the attention 
of the school medical officer cases of absence on medical grounds, of 

1 Some authorities use a slip system or card system, on which the attendances of each child are registered, 
and these are given to the attendance officers in the case of absentees. 



36 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

infectious diseases which need not be notified, cases of defective 
children, and cases of children permanently unfit to attend school. 1 
In the same way the attendance officers can cooperate with the 
medical officer in following up cases recommended for treatment. The 
intimate connection between school attendance and physical fitness 
is now so thoroughly recognized that several authorities — e. g., 
Gloucestershire, Derbyshire, and Somerset — have appointed school 
nurses as attendance officers. 

The average cost per child in average attendance for enforcing 
attendance at school shows considerable variation throughout the 
country. The cost in London is 42 cents per child in average attend- 
ance, which is 89.4 per cent; in Manchester the cost is about 33 cents 
per child, the average attendance being 90 per cent. In an inquiry 
conducted on behalf of the Liverpool education committee the cost 
per child in average attendance in 13 of the largest towns in England 
varied from 16 cents (Newcastle-on-Tyne, with an average attendance 
of 90.6 per cent) to 53 cents (Liverpool, with an average attendance 
of 89.6). As a result of the inquiry the Liverpool organization for 
securing school attendance was reformed with a view to cutting down 
the cost, which apparently bears little relation to the results attained. 

i See Chief medical officer of the Bd. of Ed., An. Rep. for 1911, pp. 9, 99-104. 



Chapter V. 

INFANT SCHOOLS. 

The infant school, like most educational institutions of the present 
in England, is in a state of transition. It is gradually losing the rigid 
formalism which once marked it. Its chief defects arise out of its 
history. It is not so very long since even infant schools were subj ected 
to as rigid examinations as the upper schools and an inspector could 
report that the mental arithmetic of the 5-year-olds was unsatisfac- 
tory. Further, until recently the inspection of infant schools was 
conducted by men who were not familiar with Froebelian or kinder- 
garten work. At present this side of inspection is being intrusted to 
women inspectors. The training colleges are also responsible for the 
weakness of infant schools, for very few of them give that special 
preparation which infant-school teachers require. But the infant 
school is responding more and more to the influences of the progressive 
kindergarten principles. But the difficulties in the way of complete 
reform are largely administrative. The infant-school teacher must 
compromise between her own conception of child life and the educa- 
tion suited to it and the demands of the upper departments that the 
child on leaving the infant school shall have attained a definite 
standard of information. Not that the two are incompatible, but 
there is the danger in some infant schools that attention will be 
concentrated mainly on the three R's. To some extent, also, further 
development is hampered by large classes, from 48 to 60 children, 
the formal school desks which seem to invite nothing but seatwork, 
and inadequate space in the classrooms. There are accordingly 
infant schools of all types — schools in which the work is mainly 
formal and disciplinary and schools in which the freedom and 
natural development of the child are the guiding principles. But 
there is in all schools a tendency to pay too much attention to the 
time-tables, and to divide up the school day into numerous short 
periods of 15 to 20 minutes. No doubt for many of the formal sub- 
jects such short periods are sufficient, but on the whole the result 
is to prevent continuity of interest in anything. 

37 



38 



ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 



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40 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

The infant schools receive children from the age of 3 up to the age 
of 7. The number of children between 3 and 5 is rapidly decreasing 
everywhere. Children between these ages are usually placed in the 
babies' class, in which no formal work is done, but the time is devoted 
to games, singing, stories, conversation, and so on. The babies' 
classrooms are the only ones equipped with movable chairs and 
tables, sand trays, toys, and pets. The transition from these classes 
to the ordinary classes and the confinement of the common school 
desk is somewhat abrupt, and many teachers would welcome a change 
throughout the infants' departments to the movable chairs and tables. 
The curriculum of the older children includes, besides the introduc- 
tion to the three R's, observation lessons, story telling, singing, 
games, drawing, handwork, and drill. But these subjects may mean 
different things in different schools. In one school the children may 
not use more than one continuous reader, and that in the last few 
months of their infant school career, the greater part of the time 
being given up to formal exercise in the recognition of words which 
they may never see or use, e. g., one class of children between the 
ages of 5- and 6 was observed to be learning such combinations as 
hatch, vetch, itch, motch, etc. Another school, possibly in the same 
district, may be using in each year five or six of the excellent chil- 
dren's story books which are issued at present. Although the Dale 
method of teaching reading is probably the most popular, no single 
method is used to the total exclusion of the others. There seems to 
be a consensus of opinion in favor of one-syllable readers, which, 
since they must rigidly maintain this uniformity, are frequently dull 
and forced. In the number work the children are taught all the 
combinations up to 20 and can work in 5's and 10's up to 100, and do 
simple sums of money and measures, but these standards are passed 
in some schools. Thus the children between 6 and 7 in one school 
were doing mentally additions in double figures, simple fractions, 
multiplications, and money sums up to 1/-. The observation les- 
sons of most schools are confined to simple nature study, and here, 
too, one may distinguish between the simple observation of plants 
and flowers actually growing in the classroom and the overloaded 
syllabus of the town school, which attempts to include most of the 
flowers, many of the trees, and a good proportion of the fruits of the 
country, and fills out the year with the study of numerous animals 
and insects. 

But the most marked progress is noticeable in the other subjects 
of the curriculum. Chalk and crayon drawing, pastel drawing, and 
brushwork, combined as they are with the observation lessons or 
with the stories in self-expression work, afford the young children 
increasing opportunities of doing something for themselves, a result 
which is also attained in many schools in the different forms of hand- 
work. The greater freedom allowed in these subjects is in some 



IttFANT SCHOOLS. 41 

degree due to the fact that many teachers bring to them the enthu- 
siasm of learners, and to some extent to the fact that they are not 
subjects which have been regarded as of much importance in the 
upper departments. The same enthusiasm marks the teaching of 
games, singing, and dancing. A pleasing brightness and gayety 
accompany these lessons, which are not always present at the seat 
work. The singing and dancing show a marked improvement as a 
result of the influences of the folk-song and folk-dance societies. A 
great variety of tuneful songs and a selection of graceful dances have 
in this way been added to the school curriculum. 

The most advanced infant schools are more and more approximat- 
ing the methods of the kindergarten. An interesting experiment in 
introducing free discipline has been conducted for some years at the 
Jews' Infant School, Buckle Street, East End of London. Apart from 
the purely educational aspect, the school is of interest for its social 
work; it is equipped with bath and clinic, provides cots for the after- 
noon nap of the younger children, arid supplies meals to all the chil- 
dren who may need them. Few schools have succeeded so well in 
retaining the naturalness of the children and in stimulating a certain 
family feeling among them. Accustomed as one is to seeing chil- 
dren in school on their "best behavior" in the presence of a visitor, 
it w T as refreshing to be besieged by groups of children anxious to show 
their writing or drawing or a piece of handwork, or to point out a 
masterpiece of one of their colleagues in the class. The school 
receives children from the age of 3 and keeps them until they pass 
through Standard II, also an experiment in itself and wisely post- 
poning the transition to the upper departments until the children 
are old enough for the newer discipline. So far as the curriculum of 
this school is concerned, it does not differ from that of the ordinary 
school, but there are some radical reforms in method. The teaching 
of reading, for example, is conducted with the purpose for which it 
is intended, i. e., personal enjoyment, and much attention is given 
to silent reading and the selection of a sufficient variety of reading 
books. In handwork, again, the element of direction is absent, cer- 
tainly for the older children, who thus receive a valuable training 
in initiative and self-reliance. Some of the cardboard work of boys 
in Standard II was equal to that of boys of Standard IV in other 
schools. It follows from the freer discipline, the encouragement of 
conversation, and wider reading that the composition reaches a high 
standard. There is a readiness in expressing ideas which is all the 
more remarkable since the parents of most of the children are either 
foreign or habitually use a foreign language. And free though the 
discipline is, there is no disorder or noise; the repressive form of 
discipline has been replaced by the social ideal, the recognition of 
the lights of others. The work of the Buckle Street school is a valu- 



42 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

able contribution to the doctrine of liberty and freedom in relation 
to the education of children. 1 

While the Montessori system has aroused considerable attention 
and has promoted much discussion among teachers throughout the 
country, it is difficult to decide what their attitude on the subject 
is. This much may be said, that there appears to be more unintelli- 
gent opposition to the system than intelligent appreciation of its 
aims or its relation to the education of young children. Experiments 
with the method have not yet been made in any public school, but it 
has been introduced by Prof. Findlay into the Fielden Demonstra- 
tion School in Manchester. Proposals have been made to set apart 
some of the London infant schools for the purpose of experimenting 
with the Montessori system and adapting it to English conditions, 
while one head teacher has been sent to Rome to make a study of 
the work. 

i See further the address hy the head mistress, Miss H. Pizer, on Free Discipline in Large Classes, in 
L. C. C. Conference of Teachers, 1913, Report of Proceedings. 



Chapter VI. 

THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. 

The English elementary school is at present in a state of transition, 
a period which necessarily involves varying standards and aims and 
different rates of development for different schools. But while the 
development is marked, it is inevitably somewhat slow. Handi- 
capped by a tradition of over half a century, the elementary school 
is finding some difficulty in shaking off the methods and outlook of 
the system known as payment by results. The change involves a 
reconstruction of aims. The old ideal of mechanical accuracy and 
a small stock of definite information in a few branches of knowledge 
drilled into the pupil is yielding to the broader, if vaguer and more 
indefinite, aims which express themselves as character forming, 
teaching to play the game, or training in initiative, resourcefulness, 
and mental alertness as a preparation for citizenship. There is thus 
on the one side greater and deeper interest in the child as a develop- 
ing personality and on the other a desire to increase the range and 
possibilities of his activities, which finds expression in a widening of 
the curriculum and a recasting of the methods of instruction. But 
the two points of view have not yet been completely reconciled, and 
the stage has riot been reached where the curriculum is looked at from 
the point of view of the developing personality of the child. Meth- 
ods are changing and the subjects of instruction are being revised, 
but each as a rule with the bias of the specialist. 

There are, besides the traditional influence, other factors which 
tend to retard progress. The newer methods are not compatible 
with mass instruction, which is almost inevitably imposed on the 
teachers by large classes of 50 or 60. The overhauling of the school 
work subject by subject also renders progress somewhat slower than 
it would be in American school system where the superintendent with 
or without assistance revises the course of study as a whole. The 
same fact also accounts for the unequal distribution of the improve- 
ment and the diversity of standards in the various schools. Each 
school is self-contained, and while one school may be doing excellent 
work its next-door neighbor may be satisfied with very poor attain- 
ments. The unit in the English system is thus the school or depart- 
ment, not, as in America, the school system. Each head teacher is 
given absolute freedom to work out the destiny of his school. Such 
guidance as there is is not given by a central institution or training 
college. There is, in fact, an absence of educational leadership; not 

43 



44 ELEMENTAKY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

that there are none qualified to lead, but that they carry little or no 
influence with the large body of teachers, who are either ignorant of, 
or take no interest in, work that is done in such institutions as the 
practicing school of the London Day Training College or at the 
Fielden Demonstration School of the Manchester University educa- 
tion department, or set up the well-worn opposition of theory and 
practice. Nor are the training colleges centers of influence; their 
work is completed when they have trained the teacher at the begin- 
ning of his career. The bond of sympathy between the schools and 
the training colleges is as a matter of fact not very strong, for there 
is a tendency for one to remain in ignorance of the work of the other 
and for the schools to complain that the training college product 
has to be remolded by them. Each head teacher works by the light 
of his experience, with such help as is afforded by the Suggestions of 
the Board of Education or the Conferences and Reports of the London 
County Council. Teachers' associations are, in the main, not inter- 
ested or concerned with the study of education; local education 
authorities offer few facilities, without insisting on attendance, for 
the further training of teachers in service; the educational periodicals 
have little circulation and can not afford to devote much space to 
discussion of educational theory; finally, the opportunities of visiting 
other schools are few or non-existent. Hence, the quality and effi- 
ciency of a school varies with the ability and educational interest of its 
head teacher. He draws up his own schemes and syllabuses; outside 
London he usually has his own system of promotion and classifica- 
tion; may devise his own methods of instruction; and is free within 
the appropriation permitted by the local education authority to select 
his own textbooks. He is responsible for the efficiency of the teach- 
ing of his staff. The system of supervision is, however, somewhat 
vague; generally it takes the form of a terminal stock-taking in the 
shape of examinations of the pupils; sometimes the head teacher will, 
for the benefit of a weak assistant, take a class for a few minutes; 
but there is, as a rule, no reference to principles; no systematic 
endeavor to place teaching efficiency on a higher plane than mere 
imitation or to train teachers to improve their practice by their own 
intellectual efforts. Even if the problem of supervision and its im- 
portance were recognized, the head teachers are at present too much 
occupied, and in London perhaps more than elsewhere, with petty 
clerical work and correspondence which could well be performed at 
a very small additional expenditure by assigning a clerk to a group 
of schools. Thus released from part of the routine duties the head 
teachers could give that assistance and advice, based on sound prin- 
ciples of supervision, which many teachers would welcome and many 
need. The system employed in a few Liverpool schools of having 
an organizing principal assisted by heads of departments, who are 



THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. 45 

freed from much of the routine administration, has much to recom- 
mend it in this as in many other respects. 

The curriculum and course of each school is accordingly what the 
head teacher, who may or may not confer with his assistants on these 
matters, makes it. The only restriction on this extensive liberty is 
that the approval of the inspectors both of the Board of Education 
and of the local education authority must be obtained for the time 
table and the syllabus. This approval would, however, only be 
withheld in extreme cases. There is probably no parallel in any 
other educational system to the extensive adoption of this principle 
of local freedom carried to its logical conclusion. To this principle 
England owes an elementary school system of which elasticity and 
adaptation to local requirements are the characteristic features. 
Any weaknesses or defects in the system are due not to the principle 
but to the English reliance on approved practical experience rather 
than intellectual training. 

The curriculum of the elemental school consists of the following 
subjects, all of which may not necessarily be found in any particular 
school: English language, handwriting, arithmetic, drawing, obser- 
vation lessons and nature study, geography, history, singing, physical 
training and hygiene, domestic subjects and needlework for girls and 
handwork for boys, moral instruction, and thrift. It would be 
impossible within the scope of this work to enter into a detailed ac- 
count of these subjects as the} r are taught in the schools; a few are 
treated later in separate chapters; of the remainder nothing more 
will be attempted than to indicate tendencies. There is at present 
considerable criticism on the part of older teachers and others inter- 
ested in school matters that the modern curriculum is overcrowded, 
with consequent loss of grasp to the pupils. Most teachers, however, 
consider that the present product of the school is as good as it ever 
was; that while the mechanical accuracy which could, in arithmetic, 
for example, secure 99 per cent correct answers is not attained nor 
perhaps desirable, much more is gained by broadening the outlook 
of the scholars and training them in resourcefulness and self-reliance; 
and that the school will always be open to such criticism from those 
who forget the standards of their own day or look to the elementary 
school to provide them with specialized ability which they themselves 
acquired by years of training. 

An impetus toward greater freedom in the classroom is given by 
the methods of teaching the newer subjects, like handwork, where the 
forces of a bad tradition are not strong. Complaint is made, how- 
ever, that too much attention is still given to formal drill work; 
writing and reading still survive for the sake of no other end than 
practice. The teacher tends to monopolize the whole time, or, as one 
teacher seriously put it, the work is becoming more and more oral 
on the part of the teacher. 



46 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

Of the subjects of the curriculum, arithmetic illustrates better 
than any other the great improvement that is taking place. The 
formal and mechanical drill in numbers is very generally replaced 
by insistence on clear and systematic thinking about number rela- 
tions in practical situations more or less within the range of the 
pupils' experience, while accuracy is secured not so much by the 
old methods of disciplinary drill as by variety and the application 
of intelligent method to diverse problems. Reasoning rather than 
mere mechanical figuring, logical setting out rather than working 
by rule, are the newer aims of instruction in this field. In framing 
syllabuses due consideration is given to the varying needs of different 
localities and the probable future needs of the pupils. With begin- 
ners the number work is almost wholly concrete, and this aspect 
tends to be retained throughout the standards. The problems are 
such as might arise in the practical every-day life of the pupils 
either in relation to money, weights, lengths, or areas. Much of 
the unintelligible and useless exercises in practice, stocks and shares, 
compound interest, and discount have been discarded. Mental 
arithmetic, with exercises in rapid calculation and special methods, 
accompanies the written work. More attention is also being given 
to rough estimates and approximations, and methods of verifying 
and checking answers. Number work is more and more correlated 
with other branches of the curriculum. Thus in the lower classes the 
scope of arithmetic is extended by exercises in practical mensuration, 
measurements of the classrooms, the school playground, and models 
made in the handwork lessons. In the top classes the coordination 
is with elementary science, wood and metal work, domestic subjects, 
while interest is stimulated by exercises dealing with materials and 
cost estimates, wages, family expenditures, the school savings bank, 
and thrift. Where the circumstances permit, algebra, hitherto 
taught only to pupils of special ability or those intending to proceed 
to the secondary schools, is being more extensively introduced as 
symbolical or literal arithmetic. Elementary geometrical ideas, 
including the properties of angles and triangles and their application 
in elementary surveying with instruments made in the workshop, 
are also taught in many schools as part of the arithmetic syllabus. 
An interesting experiment is being conducted at the demonstration 
school of the London Day Training College in the teaching of arith- 
metic of citizenship to the older pupils, to give them an intelligent 
grasp and understanding of the finances and statistics of public 
bodies. Such a course has the incidental and highly important 
value of giving pupils practical training in civics, with knowledge 
of the working of public services. A further extension of this work 
is made by a study of the markets through the medium of the daily 
press, which serves as an introduction to elementary economics. 



THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. 47 

The subject hitherto known as arithmetic is so expanded that it 
might more appropriately be called elementary mathematics. The 
spirit of the new movement is reflected in numerous " practical 
arithmetics" which have recently been issued and which cover the 
ground described above, i. e., practical problems in number, mensura- 
tion, elementary algebra, and geometry. 

The great progress made recently in the teaching of geography in 
the elementary schools is a reflection of the increased attention 
given to the subject by the more advanced institutions, especially 
the universities, of the country. This has been accompanied by the 
publication of several excellent textbooks and atlases for school use. 
It would be difficult to find any school, however backward, which 
would be satisfied in this subject with the older methods of rote 
and memory work. While the importance of geographical informa- 
tion is recognized, the better schools aim to train their pupils to 
reason about geographical matters and to be able to read a map 
intelligently. The branches which receive the most attention are 
physical and political geography. In a few schools the top classes 
are taught something about the elements of mathematical geography, 
but in general little time is given to this aspect of the subject. The 
chief emphasis is laid on the interdependence of natural and physical 
features and human life and activities. The study of the physical 
factors begins with matters within the range of the pupils' observa- 
tion and usually forms a part of the course on object lessons and 
nature study, which are treated in another chapter. Greater use 
is made of good physical maps and in some schools the ordnance 
survey maps are introduced for the older scholars. Political geog- 
raphy, or geography in relation to man, is begun in the lower classes 
or in the infants' departments, with myths, tales of discoveries, 
distribution of races, with their customs and dress. Pictures, illus- 
trations, and other aids to visualization and the imagination are 
given a prominent position, and in London many schools use the 
stereopticon in connection with the geography instruction. Stories 
of travel and discovery, descriptions of foreign lands and life, and 
accounts of the development of trade, commerce and industry, 
and in some schools of the influence of geography in history are 
increasingly employed in order to render the subject as vivid as 
possible. By the time a pupil is ready to leave school he is expected 
to have a thorough knowledge of the geography of his own country 
and of those countries with which it is most intimately connected 
by various interests, and some knowledge in outline of the rest of 
the world. The order in which this knowledge is developed varies 
somewhat. 

All schools begin with the plan of the school and the neighborhood 
and work out gradually to the home region. After this general 



48 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

instruction some schools take up the world and its divisions and 
only then return to a study of the British Isles, followed by the 
geography of the Empire and the world. In better syllabuses the 
practice is to follow the study of the neighborhood by the British 
Isles, the countries with which they are in closest relations, the 
world, and in the last year to return to a further study of the British 
Isles in order to insure a knowledge of their own country for the 
pupils. Very few schools are equipped with special rooms for the 
study of geography, and although much laboratory work in connec- 
tion with it is impossible, many schools make their own relief maps 
in clay or plasticene, paper pulp, sand or flour mixed with salt, or 
other convenient media. The extension of the school excursions 
and school journeys, especially in London, is found to be of great 
assistance to the teaching of geography by furnishing the pupils 
with certain definite concrete ideas which serve as a starting point 
for further study. There are very few schools in which geography 
is taught by a specialist, but the number of teachers who specialize 
in a study of the subject, either at the universities or in the holiday 
courses, is increasing, and their influence and advice are important 
factors in insuring the improvement in the teaching of the subject 
which has so successfully been begun. 

The subject which is perhaps the most important in the curriculum, 
namely, English, is at the same time the most difficult to handle. 
In no other subject does the personality of the teacher play such an 
important part in influencing the pupils. In no other subject is 
the end to be achieved less definite. Hence it is not surprising that 
the measure of success in this subject is in general very small. There 
have been reforms in some of the externalities of the subject; spelling 
and grammar are not given the prominence which they once enjoyed; 
the subjects of composition are more within the range of the children's 
experience; more attention is given to the works of standard authors. 
But there is something lacking in the results; the pupils in general 
are deficient in the power to express themselves either orally or in 
writing; the practice of reading to the teacher a few sentences at a 
time instead of attempting to convey the meaning and beauty of a 
passage to the class as a whole still prevails; in reciting poetry the 
conception and even the actual intonation of the teacher take the 
place of the pupils' own interpretation. The mechanics of reading 
are well taught almost universally, but there is little training in 
good reading for personal pleasure (silent reading) or for the pleasure 
or information of others (reading aloud). Spelling is taught from 
lists of words collected by the teachers for their own classes or drawn 
from the reading books of these classes. Grammar is postponed to 
the upper standards and comprises mainly analysis and simple 
parsing. It is felt by- some teachers that the subject might be 



THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. 49 

abandoned entirely if it were not for certain examination require- 
ments. 

The greatest advance has been in an increase in the number of 
books used in each class. While geographical, historical, and nature 
study readers are still retained, two or three books or stories by well- 
known authors are read in each class during the year, as well as selec- 
tions of poetry. Generally, however, the teaching of literature 
resolves itself into a reading lesson or a discussion of facts bearing 
on the story rather than appreciation of literary value. Most schools, 
and in London all schools, are now provided with libraries for the 
use of the pupils; in some schools the books are graded and distributed 
among the classes. These form a valuable adjunct to the school work 
and enable the teachers to guide the reading of their pupils. The 
books are mainly stories, books of travel and adventure, and books 
on hobbies. A few schools have formed branches of the National 
Home Reading Union, and in London the council pays the subscrip- 
tions on behalf of teachers and classes joining the union, an organiza- 
tion founded to make home reading educational and to give advice 
and help in the subject. A few head teachers work in conjunction 
with local lending libraries, but the public lending libraries in England 
do not generally pay much attention to the needs of school children, 
while many do not issue readers' tickets to children under 14. Some 
libraries have drawn up lists of children's books, but there is nowhere 
that specialized training and expert guidance which is to be found 
in so many American libraries. There are accordingly elements 
which indicate that improvement in the teaching of English is but 
delayed and that it will certainly be brought about when the size of 
classes is reduced and teachers become better acquainted with the 
excellent work that may already be found, especially in some of the 
girls' schools. It is not to be supposed that such obscurantist views 
as were expressed at the L. C. C. Conference of Teachers, held in 
January of this year, are anything more than a relic of the past. In 
respect to home reading, one speaker, with the approval of a member 
of the education committee, seriously asked the question whether, 
in view of the fact that most girls from the elementary schools enter 
business houses or take up domestic service, "it is advisable for a 
servant to be a full man or a full woman" (alluding to the saying that 
reading makes a full man). The same speaker would not allow 
this class of people to read classical books, since such reading demands 
much physical and spiritual energy, and also insists that frivolous 
literature should be guarded against. Instead of putting such tempta- 
tions in the way of the lower classes, "if we give them a beautiful 
thought each day, and let them take it home, and write it and learn 
it, it will do them far more good than reading cheap editions of the 
classics." It is fortunate for the future progress of the schools that 
4832°— 14 4 



50 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

the teachers as a body and the local education authorities have greater 
faith in the virtues and possibilities of an educated democracy than 
to share such extremely reactionary opinions, which would put back 
the clock almost a complete century. 

Unlike the American schools, where the teaching of history and citi- 
zenship forms an important feature of the school work, these subjects 
receive but very little attention in the English elementary schools. 
Only the newer central schools are giving at all adequate attention to 
the different aspects of the subject. In the ordinary schools either a 
historical reader which emphasizes the picturesque and those features 
supposed to be of chief interest to children, is used, or the teacher 
tells the stories in his own way. There is little of the valuable sys- 
tematic instruction which can accompany the teaching of history and 
afford a training in estimating the importance of facts, as well as a 
knowledge of the chief lines of historical development of the country. 
Most children accordingly leave the elementary schools with some 
notion of the chief incidents in the political history of England, very 
little about the social life, or the development of commerce and indus- 
try, and but vague ideas of the history of the nineteenth century, the 
growth of democracy in England, and the relations of England to her 
neighbors. Civics, or the study of local and national institutions, 
hardly enters into the elementary school curriculum at all. There 
seems to be a widespread, though probably mistaken, feeling that 
neither history nor civics can be satisfactorily taught in the elementary 
schools, as the pupils are too young. 

In no subject do the standards of attainment vary so much as 
in drawing, more particularly in the upper classes. The work is 
based on observation and it is a growing practice in the lower classes 
to provide a model for each child and to furnish as great a variety of 
models as possible. Some attention is given to memory drawing, 
but this is not carried further to include illustration of stories except 
in the infant's departments and in a few schools in other classes. 
The most common medium is, of course, the pencil, but crayon, 
pastel, and brushwork are frequently used. The influence of the 
specialist teacher or of teachers with special ability in this field is 
very strong and leads in those schools where they are present to a 
genuine love and appreciation of beauty of form and color. In such 
schools the pupils are able to draw or paint from a wide selection of 
objects, to make their own designs for decorative or other purposes, 
and to illustrate ideas drawn from literature or history. Excellent 
work of this character is done at the Malmesbury Road Central School, 
London, at the Brae Street elementary school, Liverpool, where the 
older pupils work in connection with a local natural history museum, 
and at the Mosely Road elementary school, Manchester. Very little 
attention is, however, given except by individual teachers, to the 
importance of some training in the appreciation of standard pictures. 



THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. 51 

Valuable work in this direction, for the promotion of both art and 
music, is done in Liverpool by the Art Studies Association. Few 
schools are provided with reproductions of well-known famous pic- 
tures. Here again there is a fear that such work would be beyond 
the abilities of elementary school children. 

In the teaching of music the chief reform has been in the introduc- 
tion of a broader selection of good songs. English and other national 
songs and folk songs are more and more being drawn upon. The 
quality of the singing is improved by the importance placed upon 
breathing exercises and voice exercises. Some of the elements of 
musical knowledge are introduced and the pupils are trained to sing 
from the sol-fa and staff notations and to recognize the differences of 
time and key. But beyond this pupils are not trained in musical 
appreciation or to know the differences between good and bad music. 
In one school, at least, the Mosely Road elementary school, Manches- 
ter, individual singing is encouraged on the same principle as indi- 
vidual reading. Instrumental music is not taught during school 
hours, but many schools arrange for the purchase of violins for their 
pupils and allow the school to be used for instruction after school 
hours. Orchestras have been formed in several schools, and are used 
for accompaniments or for special school entertainments. In Liver- 
pool the Art Studies Association arranges concerts of classical music 
in the elementary schools, criticisms and descriptions of the music 
being given. 

As was pointed out at the beginning of this chapter, not every school 
teaches all the subjects mentioned in the Code. Among these, 
hygiene and a modern language may be mentioned. The latter is 
taught in the top classes of a few schools where the circumstances 
permit, French being the language generally selected. Hygiene is 
not taught systematically except in some girls' schools in connec- 
tion with the domestic subjects. Otherwise many of the topics, such 
as fresh air, sunshine, cleanliness, food and clothing, are introduced 
incidentally under nature study. The teaching of thrift is another 
of the optional subjects which is not found very generally. Where 
it is included in the curriculum, it is taught to older children only. 
The following syllabus is recommended for use in London schools 
(see L. C. C. Elementary Schools Handbook, p. 43) : 

Distinction between thrift and parsimony; examples of wasteful and economic 
expenditure; the dearness of cheap things; individual and collective saving; how the 
individual may save; simple investments; the Post Office savings bank; the stamp- 
form; economy of time; the value of method; what to do on leaving school; skilled 
and unskilled employments; apprenticeship; apprenticeship societies; wages in dif- 
ferent classes of occupation — at first and afterwards; betting and gambling; the prin- 
ciples of compound interest; life insurance; types of policies; friendly societies; dif- 
ferent types of insurance and friendly societies; how friendly societies are managed; 
valuations of friendly societies; trade-unions as societies for encouragement of thrift; 
juvenile friendly societies. 



52 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

An important practical side of the subject of thrift is the estab- 
lishment of school savings banks in a very large number of schools. 
In Manchester, for example, in 1911 there were 341 school banks, 
the total number of elementary school departments being 392. The 
deposits in that year were $242,545 to the credit of 55,724 accounts. 
The money is handed in every Monday morning to the head teachers, 
collected by an official of the education committee, and deposited in 
the Manchester and Salford Savings Bank. No interest is paid on 
the deposits, but when any account reaches the amount of $5 it is 
transferred to the above bank, which does pay interest. The interest 
received by the education committee on account of its scholars is set 
aside as a reserve fund, which is sometimes drawn upon for allowances 
to teachers in cases of urgency or used for the benefit of scholars. 
Another form of banking, based on the same principle, links up the 
school bank with the Post Office Savings Bank. 

Reference has been made in discussing some of the school subjects 
to the greater importance which is now being attached to educa- 
tional visits, school excursions, and school journej^s. The Board of 
Education now recognizes for purposes of the attendance grant "any 
time occupied by visits during the school hours to places of educational 
value or interest, or by field work or by rambles * * *." (Code, 
art. 44 (b).) The London County Council has given more attention 
to this subject than any other education authority. For the pur- 
pose of visiting places of educational interest, in which London so 
richly abounds, special facilities are afforded to teachers and classes 
to use the Council's tramways at reduced rates, and where these can 
not be used the Council makes a grant toward the traveling ex- 
penses. For the guidance of teachers who desire to take their 
classes on these visits the Council has issued a Handbook on Educa- 
tional Visits, giving the places of interest, the hours when they are 
open, the subjects of educational interest, and special facilities or 
assistance there available. There are also special lectures to teachers 
in connection with some of these places to prepare them for conduct- 
ing classes around. The visits are correlated with literature, history, 
nature study, art, and architecture. School journeys in connection 
with the nature study or geography course are also permitted under 
this heading. School journeys, which are also recognized for pur- 
poses of school attendance, are understood to be further afield and to 
last about a week. The London County Council gives a grant to 
schools or classes undertaking these school journeys of not more 
than $30 a week or $60 for a longer period to pay for a supply teacher, 
provide equipment, and defray the traveling expenses of the teachers. 
The journeys are becoming increasingly popular and their scope is 
being extended. Thus in 1912 a large party of scholars were taken 
to Paris. But, as a rule, the journeys are made nearer home. The 
following quotations from the recently published School Journey 



THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. 53 

Record, issued by the School Journey Association, which is doing 
much to foster a wider interest in the work, may serve to indicate 
the type of work attempted by different schools: 

Opeii-air geography. Survey work in village. Nature study and study of country 
occupations. 

General study of Hastings and district with special reference to Battle of Hastings. 
Social side important. 

To study coast erosion. Scenery making. Gault fossils. Local history. Kent coal 
measures. Map making and surveying. Canterbury and the introduction of Chris- 
tianity into South Britain. 

Geography, geology, history, social intercourse, etc. 

To study generally — history, geography, geology, architecture, nature study. 

Such work can not fail of its main purpose, to quicken the teaching 
of the school and open up to the scholars a world which under the 
older methods of book work at the desk would have been impossible. 

As a rule little is done to show the pupils how to study and gather 
information for themselves. Few, if any, schools are equipped with 
a sufficient supply of supplementary books or standard works of 
reference to serve as a guide to the pupils. Most schools are pro- 
vided with dictionaries, but little use seems to be made of them. 
English education, as already stated, develops "in spots." Excel- 
lent work can be found in all the school subjects and in all matters 
affecting education, but search must be made for it. It is for this 
reason that the Government inspectors, and through them the 
Board of Education, have exceptional opportunities at their com- 
mand to spread educational enlightenment. The English teacher 
rarely advertises any special experiment, whether it be through 
modesty, or through an absence of professional feeling, or through 
inability to estimate the value of the contribution. There are, 
however, schools where pupils are taught to study and are intro- 
duced to the methods and tools required. In Liverpool arrange- 
ments have been made between several schools and local public 
libraries by which pupils in the top classes are taken by their teachers 
to the libraries and are there assisted by the teachers and librarians 
to use the catalogues and the works of reference in working up 
special topics bearing on some branch of the school work. On 
returning to school the pupils write essays incorporating the material 
obtained in the library or submit carefully organized notes to their 
teachers. It has been found that the system affords valuable train- 
ing. The chief value of the practice, however, will appear in the 
future, if it should be generally recognized that ability to do inde- 
pendent intellectual work is the greatest asset with which the schools 
can equip their pupils. 

The leaving age under most local by-laws is 14 years. Exemptions 
from school attendance are granted under certain conditions, but 
are not common in the more progressive centers. In the three cities 
under consideration the majority of the pupils leave school at the 



54 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

age of 14. There are no regulations as to the period of year at 
which a pupil may leave school, nor is there any public ceremony of 
any kind. The pupil simply drops out of school. The London 
County Council awards an elementary school-leaving certificate on 
the basis of the March terminal examinations to pupils who will 
reach the age of 14 and will leave school within the following year, 
and who have not less than two years previously reached Standard 
V. Such pupils must be recommended by the local inspector and 
must be certified by the head teacher to be of good character and 
conduct and proficient in the work of the school. The certificates 
are handed to the successful pupils by the head teacher when they 
leave the school. 

If a general summary of the standard of work of the elementary 
schools may be attempted, it may be stated that in most schools the 
pupils in the top classes are as a rule not worked up to the maximum 
of their ability. The course of study, say of the seventh standard, is 
merely a more intensive repetition of the work of the lower standards. 
It seems very probable that the curriculum could be more broadened 
and enriched on the one side in accordance with the expanding 
interests of the adolescent, and on the other to meet the probable 
requirements of the pupils when they leave school. Many pupils of 
ability, who for some reason or other are unable to proceed to a 
secondary or other school, but are able to reach the top class, are 
marking time until they leave school. The boy or girl of average 
ability who is fortunate enough to have parents of means may enter 
the secondary school at the age of 10 and enjoy a highly diversified 
curriculum. The children of poor parents are not credited with 
sufficient ability to do more than the traditional course of the ele- 
mentary school. The margin which divides the newly established 
central schools, discussed in another chapter, from the elementary 
schools, is very small. 

It is a matter of some difficulty to institute a detailed comparison 
of the standards attained in different subjects in the elementary 
schools of England and the United States. The schools are necessarily 
an expression of the ideals and aims of each country, a fact which 
ultimately determines the differences of standards between the 
schools of any two nations. The American elementary school has 
for nearly a century been the national school, the common school of 
all the people. In England the elementary school is in the process of 
developing into a national institution, a public service for national 
needs instead of being regarded as a charity school for the education 
of the lower classes. Slowly the elementary school is becoming an 
educational institution to prepare itfs members for participation in 
civic and national life, and to give them their share in the spiritual 
possessions of the race — a far broader conception than mere instruc- 



THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. 55 

tion in the three R's. This ideal has long been the commonplace of 
the educator and the politician in the United States. Another factor 
also enters to render any comparison more difficult. There are 
inherent characteristic differences between the English and the 
American child. The latter is by nature more precocious, matures 
earlier, is by circumstances of his upbringing thrown more into the 
company of adults, with the consequence that he is less reserved and 
self-conscious and more alert than the former. 

Although the English child enters school a year earlier than the 
American child of the larger cities, it is doubtful whether any advan- 
tage is reaped by this gain of a year. The American boy or girl on 
leaving the elementary school at the age of 14 has a wider range of 
general information at his command and has read more, even if he is 
less accurate on the formal side of school work. It would be difficult 
to detect any differences in standard in such subjects as arithmetic, 
nature study, and geography, or in any of the school subjects up to 
about the sixth grade. It is at this period that the other subjects of 
the curriculum become fuller and richer. Particularly is this true in 
such subjects as history, local and national government, and English 
literature. American children have a far better knowledge of the 
history of their country and in some cases of general history than is 
to be found among English elementary school children. The same 
is certainly true of their knowledge of local government and national 
departments. In English language the American child has a better 
command of oral expression; he is more given to debating and dis- 
cussing than is the English child, while in written composition the 
courses of study provide for exercises in different forms of expression to 
meet different requirements, in writing stories, and even composing 
verse. The reading of English literature is also more extensive and 
more attention is given to the different forms of literary expression 
than in the English elementary schools. In art work there is also 
greater variety in the media used, greater scope in the application, 
and more appeal on the intellectual side to an appreciation of beauty 
in form and color. There is, on the whole, a bolder conception of the 
possibilities of the school than has prevailed in England until very 
recently; it seems highly probable that the future will see a develop- 
ment of a similar character in England, since all the tendencies of the 
present point in that direction. If the development should be slow, 
it is because the English teacher is more cautious and less inclined to 
make experiments than his American colleague. But if the English 
elementary school has much to gain from a study of the American 
curriculum, American educational administration would profit as 
greatly from what is the strength of the English system — the freedom 
of the individual school. 



Chapter VII. 

THE TEACHING OF SPECIAL SUBJECTS. 

(i) NATURE STUDY. 

No other subject in the school curriculum is so wide and unlimited 
in scope as nature study. Combined with observation lessons this 
branch of school work is intended to have " special reference to the 
surroundings of the scholars, the natural and historical features 
and plant life of the locality, and the industries of the inhabitants, 
with the view of forming the habit of intelligent and accurate obser- 
vation." 1 These subjects are the substitutes for the former study 
of common objects, and may be compared to the instruction given 
in German schools under the title of Realien. Such instruction 2 
" directs the attention of the scholars to real things, makes them 
acquainted with simple natural facts, and will develop a love of 
nature." The purpose of the observation lessons, which should be 
introductory to nature study, is to teach the scholars to observe, to 
contrast, to compare, and in general to acquire a knowledge of com- 
mon things and to describe accurately what they see. Nature study, 
which, according to the Suggestions, should be begun by scholars in 
their tenth year, may deal with any subject illustrating the relation 
of man or the earth to nature; " it is that class of elementary instruc- 
tion," to quote the Suggestions, " which deals with the outdoor world, 
with the life of animals and plants, with the clouds and the seasons, 
the rocks and the soil, in fact with any side of the changing panorama 
we call Nature." Hence it is intended that under the heading of 
nature study the scholars shall be taught to appreciate the manifold 
aspects of their own environment. The subject has, however, been 
narrowed down, and one does not find that variety which might be 
expected to follow from differences in environment. Nature study 
now means, even in town schools, the study of plants, trees, flowers, 
and animal life. Those things which contribute to the activities 
of a large town, the life of the street, the industries, the traffic, the 
public services, are as a rule neglected, and syllabuses are drawn up 
more suited to the needs of children in the country. There is no 
intention here of disparaging the value of this aspect of nature study, 
but in the town schools it can, and often does, absorb too much time. 
Much can of course be done, as in London, to make up for the defi- 
ciency of a " nature" environment, but it is done at a cost of some- 
thing that is more vital and immediate in the London child's life. 

i Bd. of Ed., The Elementary School Code, art. 2 (5). 

2 Bd. of Ed., Suggestions for the Consideration of Teachers, p. 36. 

56 



THE TEACHING OK SPECIAL SUBJECTS. 57 

The type of work that is done may perhaps be illustrated by the 
following extract from the nature-study syllabus of a city infant 
school, which at the same time indicates the attempts of some infant 
schools to anticipate the work of later years : 

The plant, its parts and their functions; stems; pressing and mounting flowers and 
leaves; young leaves and their foldings; folding of developed leaves; collection of 
seeds, roots, fruits, and nuts. 

Stems, their use to the plant, their kinds. Roots in the same way. 

Flowers: To recognize buttercup, daisy, dandelion, cowslip, primrose, rose, water 
lily, wallflower, forget-me-not, garden pea, gorze, snowdrop, etc., in season. Uses of 
each part of the flower. To recognize catkins of poplar, hazel, and oak; to examine, 
draw, and mount specimens. 

Leaves, their uses, forms, and arrangements; buds, modes of protection. 

Fruits, their seeds; examine various seeds; sow seeds and note process of growth; 
drawing. 

Trees: Oak, elm, beech, hawthorn, lilac, laburnum, poplar, horse-chestnut, elder, etc. 

How plants defend themselves. 

Grasses: Collection and mounting. 

Animal life: History of frog, butterfly, dragonfly, worm; a pond and its inhabi- 
tants; squirrel, bees, spider, fly. Structure of birds, and adaptation to life; sparrow, 
song birds, water birds. 

Physical geography: Thames from source to mouth in outline. Our minerals: Coal, 
iron, tin, salt, and chalk; how obtained and used. Wind, rain, snow, and frost; mist. 

It is clear that with such a scheme there is little left for the upper 
classes to learn beyond recapitulating more intensively. It will also 
be noticed that the instruction in nature study is not postponed until 
the scholars are 10 years old. 

Few schools in the country receive so much assistance from the 
education authorities in making instruction in nature study concrete 
as do the schools under the London County Council. In Manchester 
the cost of equipment and specimens for this subject is included in 
the per capita supply grant of 60 cents. In Liverpool the local 
museum distributes geological and other specimens for use in schools. 
But in London head teachers receive a special allowance varying with 
the size of the school from $3 to $5 a year for the purchase of objects for 
lessons, and an allowance not exceeding $2.50 to be spent in the pur- 
chase of seeds, small flower pots, mold, manure, etc. The equipment for 
nature study consists in most schools of plants, bulbs, and flowers, 
with the addition in some schools of small aquaria and vivaria. Thus 
the scholars have opportunities of observing plant and animal life 
in the school. These opportunities are further extended in various 
ways. Under a botany scheme introduced by the Council, approved 
schools are supplied with specimens from the Council's l|ptany depot 
at Avery Hill, while seeds or cuttings are supplied to chiforen for their 
own cultivation by the Parks department. In 1911 schools were pro- 
vided under the botany scheme with 10,404 boxes, containing 8,402,000 
specimens, while 68,300 plants were supplied for cultivation and 614 



58 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

bushels of mold were furnished to school gardens. A further source 
of supply has been found by some schools in the mutual-aid scheme, 
by which arrangements are made with country schools to receive pic- 
ture post cards, etc., in exchange for specimens. The recognition by 
the Board of Education of time spent during school hours on visits to 
places of educational interest or on field work or rambles as part of 
the minimum time required for the attendance grants has also been 
used in London schools for the advantage of instruction in nature 
study. Excursions to the parks or the country and visits to special 
collections are undertaken more frequently for this purpose. Thus 
the botanical beds in some of the Council's parks are visited, and 
teachers also take their classes to the Horniman Museum, which con- 
tains ethnological and natural-history collections, and the Stepney 
Borough Museum, where the curator lectures to the scholars on the 
natural-history collection, etc. Some of the natural-history museums 
provide courses of lectures for teachers who intend to bring their 
scholars. Finally, school gardens are being introduced at the rate 
of 20 additions each year in connection with those schools which show 
a prospect of making good use of them. 

The method of instruction is almost entirely observational and oral. 
There is an absence of technical terms and of those phases of the work 
which properly belong to botany. Measurements and records of 
such growing plants and flowers as can be kept in the school or the 
school garden are made, and in some schools nature calendars are 
prepared by the scholars. Generally the aim is to give the scholars 
some knowledge of the different parts of trees, plants, and flowers, of 
their growth, and of their adaptation to environment. The study of 
nature is frequently correlated with drawing and brushwork, mainly 
with a view to assist the scholars in their observations. Very little 
written work accompanies the instruction; where it is encouraged, 
it takes the form of simple notes based on personal observation, with 
a sketch of the object. The use of textbooks or nature-study readers 
is not general and is not recommended by the Board of Education. 

The study of animal life is very similar in method to that described 
above. Where the syllabus is not too ambitious, the study is con- 
fined to a few domestic animals, to birds and insects, and, if there is a 
pond near the school, to its inhabitants. The different parts of the 
object studied and their use, its method of life, and its usefulness are 
considered. In some schools cases are kept in which the development 
of the butterfly, silkworm, the earthworm, slugs and snails, ants, and 
small fish can be observed. The keeping of pets in connection with 
the schoolwork is not usual except in some infant classes. 

An introduction to the study of physical geography is also made 
under the heading of nature study. Observations are made of the 
weather, sunshine, wind and rain, the sky, clouds and mists, snow, 



THE TEACHING OF SPECIAL SUBJECTS. 59 

frost, and hail. Weather charts and temperature and barometric 
graphs are made by the scholars. On the basis of local observations 
the study of climate and its influence is taken up. The nature of the 
earth and its formation, touching on the elements of geology and 
mineralogy, are also considered in this part of the course. 

In the last year of school life some attention is given to elementary 
science in the case of boys. The science for the girls is usually con- 
nected with the domestic science work— cookery, laundry, and house- 
wifery. Elementary science includes instruction in simple measuring 
and the instruments used, e. g., calipers, verniers, balance, thermome- 
ter, spirit level, barometer, etc. This is followed by lessons in the 
elements of heat, light, and sound, density and gravity, and the science 
of common things. The absence of laboratories limits the possibility 
of experimenting, and the work is largely conducted by demonstra- 
tion by the teacher and observation by the scholars. The intro- 
duction of "practical workrooms" for manual work will also serve 
the purpose of instruction by experimental methods in elementary 
science. 

(2) HANDWORK. 

The teaching of handwork is at present in a transition stage be- 
tween the purely formal or disciplinary and the educational concep- 
tions of its value. Although considerable attention has in recent 
years been paid to the subject both by the central and local educa- 
tional authorities, a complete recognition of the value of the motor 
activities as an important means of general mental development 
has not yet been brought about. This failure may in part be due to 
a lack of sympathy with modern educational movements among older 
teachers, who are wedded to the literary and disciplinary curriculum 
of a former generation, and in some measure to the failure of many 
training colleges to pay adequate attention to handwork. Hence, 
though handwork may be found in most schools, its position in the 
curriculum may range all the way from complete isolation as a sepa- 
rate subject to its complete embodiment as an educational means 
with the motives furnished by the other subjects, as in an experiment 
conducted at the Moston Lane (boys) School in Manchester. Without 
passing any criticism on the mechanical skill and dexterity attained, 
the defect most generally observed is the want of relation with other 
parts of the curriculum. There is progress, however, in the movement 
to coordinate the technical and educational values of handwork, and 
the success of the experiments made in several schools in London 
and Manchester and in Liverpool generally will undoubtedly prove 
stimulating. 

There is considerable variety in the number of media used for 
handwork. There are to be found at different stages of the schools 
such materials as paper, carton, cardboard, raffia, cane, string, clay, 
plasticene, strip wood, matchwood, wire, wood, and metal. In the 



60 ELEMENTAKY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

infant schools, where a healthy stimulus has been given to the hand- 
work by the very general adoption of kindergarten principles, all 
these materials, with the exception of the last few, are used. The 
manual occupations are paper folding, paper cutting, modeling in 
clay or plasticene, raffia, basket weaving, knotting, and knitting. A 
few schools in Manchester are experimenting with strip wood in the 
highest infant classes, but it is doubtful whether this medium can be 
made as effective as those which are more easily manipulated by 
young children. The paper is used for making flowers, lanterns, 
boxes, trays, figures to illustrate stories, and, with older infants, for 
introducing simple measurements. The articles made in paper are 
frequently colored in by the children with their own designs. The 
clay or plasticene work (it is impossible to decide which is considered 
the better of the two) is correlated generally with nature study and 
drawing; sometimes cooperative work to illustrate some story is 
attempted. The raffia work and knotting lend themselves to exer- 
cises in design and the careful combination of color effects. All these 
occupations are of course not to be found in any one school, but they 
are in general typical of what may be expected without including such 
variations as are introduced by the originality and initiative of indi- 
vidual teachers. Nor is it to be inferred that the same value is 
universally attached to handwork. The attitude toward this sub- 
ject varies in proportion as the work of a school is organized on kin- 
dergarten principles or as a formal preparation for the upper school. 
But more encouragement will be given to the work of the infant school 
as handwork gains a firmer position in the departments for older 
children. 

Until recently there was in most schools a gap between the hand- 
work of the infant schools and the manual training of the upper 
standards. This deficiency is being rapidly corrected, and continuity 
throughout all the departments of a school is increasing. Different 
forms of handwork are adopted to suit the needs of boys (girls 
in general do needlework only) up to Standards IV or V. Paper, 
cardboard, clay or plasticene, raffia, and light woodwork are used. 
The points of correlation, varying with the materials, are practical 
arithmetic, drawing, nature study, geography, and history. Paper 
and cardboard are found particularly useful for concrete work in 
practical arithmetic and geometry, while clav lends itself especially 
to expression work in nature study and geography. In Liverpool the 
scheme for cardboard work is correlated with geometry, practical 
arithmetic, and history, in connection with which models of old types 
of buildings, castles, boats and ships, etc., are made. At the Moston 
Lane (boys) School, Manchester, experimental work has been begun 
to see how far handwork can be carried as a means of rendering other 
subjects more living and real to the scholars. Clay is used to illustrate 



BUREAU OF EDUCATION 



BULLETIN, 1913, NO. 57 PLATE 3 




A. WOODWORK SHOP— A LIVERPOOL ELEMENTARY HANDICRAFT CENTER. 




B. METAL WORKSHOP— A LIVERPOOL HANDICRAFT CENTER. 



BUREAU OF EDUCATION 



BULLETIN, 1913, NO. 57 PLATE 4 




A. MODELS MADE IN A LIVERPOOL HANDICRAFT CENTER. 




B. MODELS MADE IN A LIVERPOOL HANDICRAFT CENTER. 



THE TEACHING OF SPECIAL SUBJECTS. 61 

the history, and models are made of weapons, helmets, vases, and 
other antiquities in a local museum, while plans of Roman camps and 
old Manchester are constructed. It is intended to extend the experi- 
ment to other subjects to see how far handwork can be made a part 
of the general curriculum. In London the introduction of handwork 
into the junior classes is very recent, but the early experiments have 
justified themselves and a rapid extension is taking place. Practical 
arithmetic and geometry are the subjects which receive most assist- 
ance from the paper and cardboard modeling. But as a training in 
the exercise of initiative and self-reliance the work suffers from the 
too detailed instruction given by the teachers, who are devoting 
more attention to the perfection of the results than to the value of the 
method. Apart from the formal work involved in making such arti- 
cles as boxes, trays, tidies, picture frames, etc., larger models are 
made, such as plans of the classrooms, the school, motor busses, 
shops, and other subjects suggested by the scholars, when they have 
the opportunity. Some of the larger exercises introduce valuable 
cooperative work. 

light woodwork is introduced into many schools either as a 
preliminary preparation for the woodwork at the bench or as a 
substitute where the larger equipment is not provided. This form 
of handwork has the advantage of requiring only a simple equipment 
which can be used at the ordinary school desk. The most important 
part of the equipment is the work board to which a sawing block is 
attached. Simple tools are used, and prepared wood is supplied. 
The simplicity of the equipment, and its availability in the ordinary 
classroom, the short time required for the purely formal introductory 
instruction, and the great variety of simple models and working toys 
which can readily be made render the light woodwork a valuable 
addition to manual training. The combination of wire and metal 
with the wood makes further demands on the ingenuity of the pupils 
and offers increased scope for the development of manual dexterity 
and aesthetic perception. But, as with any other forms of handwork, 
successful results are proportionate to the extent to which the teacher 
eliminates himself and allows his scholars freedom. 

The increasing recognition that handwork must have a place in 
the school curriculum draws attention to the fact that most schools 
at present lack a suitable room for the purpose. The newer schools 
in Liverpool are being equipped with handicraft rooms similar in 
size and arrangement to the ordinary science laboratory. It is 
intended that these rooms shall also serve as museums to exhibit the 
work of the scholars, which at present are too frequently locked out 
of the way in the teachers' cupboards. Similar provision is being 
made in London schools in all new buildings and so far as possible 
in existing buildings. Such practical workrooms will have an area 



62 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

of 600 square feet and are intended for classes of 40. A practical 
workroom has been introduced in connection with one of the schools 
for backward children. The Manchester authorities have already 
set aside an ordinary classroom in one of their schools to be used for 
light woodwork only. The tendency in the newer buildings, how- 
ever, is to make the classrooms too small for anything but seatwork. 
The increasing financial burden on local authorities and the growing 
cost of school buildings will, unless some new form of aid is introduced, 
prevent extensive additions, however much their need may be 
recognized. 

The most general form of handicraft for the senior scholars is 
woodwork. By the regulations of the Board of Education boys are 
not admitted to the woodwork classes until they are 11 years old, 
to which the local education authorities add a standard qualification 
(generally Standard V). In London all boys over 11 years and 9 
months are admitted, if there is sufficient accommodation, even 
though they have not reached the qualifying standard. The board's 
regulations limit the size of classes under one instructor to 20. The 
system of handicraft "centers" prevails and these are used by a 
number of contributory schools. The centers and the instructors 
in charge are, with few exceptions, under the control of the special 
handicraft supervisor. This is the weakness of the scheme educa- 
tionally. It means generally the continuance of the old system in 
which handicrafts were extras and practically stood outside the 
curriculum. Local regulations and suggestions from the board 
can not bridge the gap which distance places between a center and 
its contributory school. The difficulty is overcome where a handi- 
craft center is on the same site as a school. It is in such cases that 
the encouragement to close cooperation between the two is bearing 
fruit. Here the handicraft instructor is in a position to make him- 
self acquainted with the work of the school and to discuss the possi- 
bilities of cooperation with the teachers. Under any other conditions 
the centers and the instructors tend to be isolated, especially as the 
instructors are as a rule not attached to any school as members of 
the staff and are paid a lower scale of salary than ordinary teachers. 
A further limitation to the possibility of rendering handicraft com- 
pletely educational is the retention of set schemes of models, as in 
London and Manchester, for the main purpose of a " scheme" is 
to provide a graded series of exercises, and although the models of 
to-day are a vast improvement on the formal exercise of an earlier 
period, they do not in general respond to the needs and purposes of 
the scholars. Even the recent concession to the demands of the 
educationist, namely, the interposition of "free expression" models, 
is really of little value, for in most cases the free model is merely a 
new variation of some other model in the room. The newer move- 



THE TEACHING OF SPECIAL SUBJECTS. 63 

ment is well represented in Liverpool, where in a recent " Memo- 
randum by the Director on Schemes of Handicraft (Woodwork)" 
the teachers are requested to draw up their own schemes and to 
"bear in mind the suggestions of teachers from the contributory 
schools, the character of the boys from those schools, and the sylla- 
buses of work in the other school subjects, and so far as possible 
arrange the work for the particular classes in accordance therewith.'' 
There is here no scheme prescribed by the superintendent of handi- 
crafts. And it may be said in general that the most successful 
results are attained in those centers where the cooperation with the 
contributory school is closest and where, so far as is possible, the 
"scheme" can be disregarded. 

The handicraft centers are well equipped with benches and the 
necessary tools, and there is a generous supply of different kinds of 
wood. The introductory lessons in the woodwork course deal with 
the geographical distribution of the woods, their natural qualities, 
scientific properties, and uses. Many of the centers are supplied 
with sections of the various kinds of wood used, with pictures of the 
trees, and specimen leaves. Where possible, the teachers use oppor- 
tunities afforded by school excursions to give further lessons on trees 
and their ultimate destination. The method of instruction in the 
uses of the various tools varies; some teachers, guided more by the 
risk of danger from misuse than by educational principles, give 
lessons on all the tools from the beginning; others introduce one or 
two of the more important and let the pupils discover the uses of 
the remainder as their needs arise, merely giving a general warning 
in the careful use of the edge tools. 

Drawing forms an important accompaniment to the woodwork 
and a very good standard is maintained in this branch. Each model 
is usually sketched in freehand before it is commenced, and finished 
drawings to scale and with the necessary instruments are made of the 
completed article, with plans and elevations. 

It would be impossible to do more than suggest the type of models 
which are produced. The numerous pencil sharpeners, dishstands, 
towel rollers, boxes, shelves, brackets, egg stands, letter racks, picture 
frames, toothbrush racks, soap boxes, and inkstands show the under- 
lying uniformity of a "scheme." Of much greater educational value 
is the result produced where the manual work is coordinated with 
some other subject. At the Essendine Road L. C. C. elementary 
school the correlation of the woodwork with the science has helped 
to develop a keen interest among the boys in both subjects. The 
models include theodolites, sextants, sight rules, plane tables, ther- 
mometer frames, spirit levels, balances, steelyards, compasses, and 
other articles required in connection with mechanics or 'physics. A 
few of the boys were allowed to make a working waterwheel and 



64 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

showed great ingenuity in utilizing scraps of tin and other material 
not supplied at the center. This school, however, is not typical, 
since it was specially selected for an experiment in correlation. In 
Liverpool there is neither a prescribed scheme nor definite correlation 
with any particular subject or subjects. The guiding principle in 
the selection of any model is that the teacher recognizes some educa- 
tional purpose or motive. "So far as possible," to quote from the 
memorandum previously referred to, "the attitude of the boy toward 
his work should be either that of solving a problem and working out 
a difficulty, which will eventually lead him to the knowledge of 
some principle or truth, or the illustration of the subject matter of 
one of his school lessons." With such a guiding principle the work- 
shop becomes the place for making things commonly seen, things 
that will work, things to play with, and things read about or dis- 
cussed in class. The two boys who had their geography books 
before them, the one to make a model of a colonist's log cabin there 
illustrated and the other to make a Boer trek wagon, were probably 
not isolated instances. The broad view taken of handicraft is further 
illustrated by the fact that in several centers a metal workshop is 
attached to the wood workshop and boys may pass from one to the 
other as need arises. The same freedom is being slowly introduced 
in Manchester, especially in those schools where the head teachers 
take a personal interest in handwork. But at present the work is 
essentially a compromise between the requirements of the scheme and 
the demands of sound pedagogy. 

Metalwork is not so extensively taught as woodwork, but the 
softer forms of metal which do not require the elaborate equipment 
of lathe and forge and can be worked with simple tools have been 
introduced. Wire, Venetian iron, zinc, copper foil, and tin plate can 
be'easily manipulated and used in combination with wood. Spe- 
cially equipped metal work centers are not as a rule found in con- 
nection with elementary schools, and the work is usually limited to 
the older boys, who already have some facility in working with wood. 
Repousse, bent ironwork, geometrical models, and the making of 
simple articles for common use represent the type of work done in 
the elementary stages. Where a complete equipment for work in the 
heavier metals is provided, as in several of the London central schools 
(seeCh. XVI), a two years' course is arranged, of which the first year 
is devoted to bench work, soldering, and forging, most of the early 
models being of a disciplinary character, while in the second year 
more freedom is allowed in the selection of models and the choice of 
design. 

In the Suggestions for the Consideration of Teachers, issued by the 
Board of Education, training in handicraft is declared to be valuable 
for awakening "an interest in the industrial (not excluding the agri- 
cultural) side of national life, and in encouraging boys to look forward 



BUREAU OF EDUCATION 



BULLETIN, 1913, NO. 57 PLATE 5 




A. SCHEME OF METAL WORK FOR TWO YEARS. THOMAS 
STREET L. C. C. CENTRAL SCHOOL. 




B. SCHEME OF METAL WORK FOR TWO YEARS. THOMAS 
STREET L. C. C. CENTRAL SCHOOL. 



BUREAU OF EDUCATION 



BULLETIN, 1913, NO. 57 PLATE 6 




A. MODELS OF WOODWORK IN A MANCHESTER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. 




B. MODELS OF LIGHT METAL WORK IN A MANCHESTER ELEMENTARY 

SCHOOL. 



THE TEACHING OF SPECIAL SUBJECTS. 65 

to earning their living by manual work instead of preparing to seek 
positions as clerks or office boys." This view has an important bearing 
on the question of the choice of teachers for handicraft. For the ele- 
mentary forms of handwork taught in the junior classes of the ele- 
mentary schools, the regular teachers must be responsible. Of these 
a few receive instruction in handwork in the training colleges, but 
the majority have studied the subject in special classes provided by 
the local educational authorities and in the numerous summer schools 
for handwork, which have been established in recent years. But for 
the more advanced forms of handicrafts specialized training is essen- 
tial. Since the scale of pay of wood and metalwork teachers is as a 
rule lower than that of ordinary teachers, very few of the latter* class 
take up the specialized work. The majority of the teachers of the 
handicraft subjects are accordingly artisans with experience in the 
woodwork and engineering trades, who have obtained one of the 
qualifications recognized by the Board of Education, viz: The Teach- 
er's Certificate in Manual Training, issued by the City and Guilds of 
London Institute, or the teacher's certificate in woodwork and metal- 
work of the board of examinations for educational handwork. Lon- 
don, in addition to providing facilities for the training of artisans for 
the work of the schools, also awards annually 10 pupil-teacherships 
of handicraft to suitable candidates, who enter on a course of train- 
ing for four years at Shoreditch Technical Institute. The employ- 
ment of artisans as teachers of handicraft possesses the advantage 
that they are in a position to introduce the actual methods of the 
trade workshop and to "form habits of industrious, careful, and 
accurate work," as recommended in the Suggestions, in accordance 
with trade standards. This type of teacher may also imbue the work 
with the craft ideal. On the other hand, since the emphasis of the 
instruction in elementary school handicraft should be educational 
and not technical or vocational, many of the teachers of this class are 
likely to be handicapped, unless they cooperate closely with the ordi- 
nary teachers or the head teachers of the contributory schools and 
make themselves acquainted with their work. The pupil-teacher sys- 
tem in London, while it is superior, also has the disadvantage of laying 
the emphasis on the technical aspects. Probably the best type of 
teacher, and probably the teacher of the future, will be the ordinary 
elementary school teacher who has gone through some special train- 
ing in the handicrafts ; the artisan teacher would find his place in the 
trade, technical, and central schools. 

(3) NEEDLEWORK AND DOMESTIC SUBJECTS. 

There has been a steady improvement within recent years in the 

teaching of those subjects which appear to belong peculiarly to the 

education of girls. Hampered at first by an educational tradition 

which emphasized the formal and theoretical, these subjects hardly 

4832°— 14 5 



66 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

justified their inclusion in the curriculum. These defects, however, 
are disappearing gradually, and increasing stress is laid on the prac- 
tical value of thorough instruction in the subjects which are so closely 
connected with the home. Needlework is now taught to girls in all 
elementary schools; the domestic subjects — cookery, laundry work, 
and housewifery — are being introduced more extensively under the 
inducement of special Government grants. 

Needlework is introduced in many schools in the last year of the 
infants' department, but little more is attempted here than coarse 
stitching with large needles and roughly putting together dolls' clothes. 
It is found that raffia work forms a satisfactory introduction to the use 
of the needle. Knitting, which does not require such close work, is 
carried to a more advanced stage in the infants' departments than is 
needlework. In one school the children between 6 and 7 had knitted 
woolen bonnets for themselves. In the schools for older children the 
instruction in needlework is almost entirely practical. The working 
of specimen pieces, while still to be found, is rapidly disappearing, 
and practical applications are so far as possible made of the sewing. 
In the early stages the center of interest is the doll, and small articles 
of clothing which give opportunity for the use of different kinds of 
stitches are made. As the girls grow older they are taught how to 
make articles of apparel for themselves, such as the necessary under- 
wear, blouses, aprons, and overalls. It is the aim of the course that 
every girl by the time she leaves school shall be able to make the 
measurements, design a rough sketch, and cut out garments for herself 
or members of her family. An important part of the work is the in- 
struction in repairing and patching clothes. Valuable as this part 
of the instruction is, the teachers find some difficulty in persuading 
the girls to bring articles of their own to practice upon. In the upper 
classes, where the girls are engaged in more advanced work which 
requires longer hems and seams, it is felt by some teachers that un- 
necessary waste of time and energy is involved by the entire absence 
or inadequate supply of sewing machines. In some schools the girls 
are allowed to take home work which requires the use of the sewing 
machine. By those who insist on the formal value of sewing it is 
objected that although most of the girls in any school may have 
access to machines at home, the variety of makes renders it inad- 
visable as well as useless to introduce one machine into the school. 
The practice varies in respect to the provision of material upon 
which to work. In London the Council provides the material and 
the girls are allowed to purchase any article which they make at cost 
price for all the material involved. Thus in 1909-10 the Council 
spent $20,000 on material for teaching purposes and $30,000 on 
material for making up. This practice is generally followed else- 
where, but in Manchester the girls may bring their own materials,. 



THE TEACHING OF SPECIAL SUBjr.Tft. 67 

In many schools instruction in needlework is correlated with prac- 
tical arithmetic, both in measuring and estimating costs of garments 
and in making the sketches. Embroidery is introduced in a very 
few schools, particularly in the central schools for girls, and where 
this work is correlated with drawing and design excellent results are 
produced, as, for example, at Malmesbury Road Central School in 
London and the Brae Street School in Liverpool. Instruction in the 
hygiene of clothing and the value of materials is given in connection 
with the teaching of domestic subjects. No attention is given by 
direct instruction to such matters as taste and simplicity in dress. 
The following outline 1 of a needlework scheme which has been 
introduced experimentally in some 20 of the London schools may 
serve to indicate the present tendencies in the teaching of this sub- 
ject: 

(1) That not less than two and not more than three hours per week be spent in 
needlework. 

(2) That at least two finished articles or garments be made by each pupil in the 
course of the year, the garments being suitable for her own use. 

(3) That each pupil above Standard III shall cut out the garments made by her. 

(4) That sewing machines be supplied to each of the selected departments. 

(5) That the use of specimen pieces be discontinued as far as possible. 

Part of the time allotted to needlework is assigned to knitting, 
which is applied to the making of undergarments and stockings. 
Since the majority of children now wear ready-made stockings, 
attention is usually confined to darning and repairing, chiefly the 
knitting of heel and toe or refooting, for which purpose girls are 
encouraged to bring their own material. 

The subjects of the domestic course are cookery, laundry work, 
and housewifery, which are taught separately, or in a mixed course, 
or in a combined course requiring the more complete equipment of a 
model home. The classes in these subjects are limited in size to 18 
scholars. For the adoption and encouragement of these subjects 
special grants are offered by the Board of Education, which requires 
in a year a minimum of 40 hours' instruction in cookery, 20 hours in 
laundry work, 20 hours in housewifery, and 80 hours in either the 
mixed or the combined course. By the same regulations teachers of 
special subjects must hold a diploma recognized by the board or must 
be specially approved by that body. 

The domestic subjects are taught in specially equipped centers 
which are visited in turn by scholars of several schools in a district. 
The teachers in charge of these centers may be responsible for admin- 
istrative purposes to the head teacher of the school on whose site the 
center is situated or only to the superintendents of special subjects. 
Provision is made for the correlation of the instruction in elementary 
science and in any of the domestic subjects either by means of con- 

L. C C An. Rep., 1911, Vol. IV, p. 23. 



t 
68 Em ~ men tar y education in England. 

sultation between the teachers concerned or through the special- 
subjects superintendents. Generally, except where the elementary 
science is confined to botany, instruction is given in hygiene and 
physiology and simple chemistry, with special reference to the work 
in domestic subjects. The scholars who are admitted to the courses 
in cookery, laundry work, and housewifery, must, by the regulations 
of the Board of Education, be over 1 1 years of age, but preference is 
given to older girls. The local education authorities also require 
the attainment of some standard (VI in London, V in Manchester 
and Liverpool) as a qualification for admission, although all girls 
above a certain age, e. g., 12 years and 9 months in London, must be 
admitted. No girl under 12 is permitted to take the course in house- 
hold management or combined domestic subjects. The study of 
domestic subjects is arranged to cover either two years, as in London, 
.or three, as in Manchester. The course begins as a rule with cookery, 
after which laundry work is taken up, to be followed by housewifery 
and the combined domestic subjects, if these are taught. 

The aim of the instruction in domestic subjects is to prepare the 
girls to take their part in household duties when they leave school. 
It is intended to give them not merely practical ability in this work, 
but to teach them the value of cleanliness, foresight, thrift, and 
economy in household management for the purpose of preserving 
health and well-being. It may be objected that, however laudable 
such aims may be, the majority of the girls forget much of what they 
have learned long before they are called upon to put their knowledge into 
practice. The extension of the facilities for studying these subjects 
in the evening schools will serve to revive the knowledge at a time 
when it is really needed. 

It follows from the aim which governs the teaching of domestic 
subjects generally that the teaching of cookery is designed as much 
to give the girls a knowledge of foodstuffs and their dietetic value, 
the selection and purchase of food, its cost, economy in the outlay 
on food, the need of planning a week or more in advance, as facility 
in its preparation. Emphasis is placed on the importance of variety 
of food rather than quantity, and instruction is given in the prepara- 
tion of special meals for infants, invalids, and convalescents. Atten- 
tion is also given to such matters as the preservation of food, reheat- 
ing, the use of scraps and general economy in the kitchen, and care 
in the use of tinned food; and exercises are provided in drawing up 
menus for varying incomes and families of different sizes. The 
length of each lesson varies from two to two and a half hours, about 
one-quarter of which is given to theory and demonstration and the 
remainder to practice and the copying of notes and records. In 
general the introductory lessons are devoted to the chief principles 
and the illustrations in practice. Thus the various methods of 



BUREAU OF EDUCATION 



BULLETIN, 1913, NO. 57 PLATE 7 




A. ST. JAMES SCHOOL, LIVERPOOL. BOYS' COOKERY. 




B. ST. JAMES SCHOOL, LIVERPOOL. GIRLS' COOKERY. 



BUREAU OF EDUCATION 



BULLETIN, 1913, NO. 57 PLATE 




A. COOKING CLASS AT BURGESS STREET CENTER, MANCHESTER ELEMENTARY 

SCHOOL. 









~~ 1 r~~ 


Jpji 


1 1 


»^Kv|B 


\m 











5. LAUNDRY WORK IN A MANCHESTER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. 



THE TEACHING OF SPECIAL SUBJECTS*. 69 

baking, roasting, boiling, steaming, stewing, and frying are consid- 
ered. After this the practice varies. In London, where an excellent 
syllabus has been adopted, the remainder of the course, about two- 
thirds of the time devoted to cookery, is given to particular menus 
with demonstrations by the teacher of one important dish at each 
lesson. The menus vary in accordance with the probable incomes 
prevailing in the district in which the center is situated. This 
scheme permits much freedom and brings the instruction nearer to 
the homes of the children. The plan has another advantage in that 
the product can more easily be sold, either to those teachers and 
children who take their meals at the school or to the care committees 
for providing meals to the necessitous children. Under any other 
scheme there is not only the danger that attention may be confined 
to specimen dishes without regard to practical requirements, but 
also that only those things will be cooked which can most easily be 
sold. Different methods have been adopted for the purchase of 
materials to be used in the cookery classes. In London the teachers 
buy what they need from the tradesmen on an order from the Council, 
which settles the accounts monthly. In Manchester and Liverpool 
the teachers advance the money for the purchases and are reim- 
bursed at the end of each month. The teachers generally prefer the 
latter system, for it affords an opportunity of teaching their scholars 
how to do marketing. 

The Board of Education sanctions the teaching of cookery to boys 
over 12 in seaport towns. Liverpool has made use of this opportunity, 
and boys who are thinking of going to sea receive instruction in 
cooking for one afternoon a week. The boys appear to be very keen 
and earnest about the work, and there seems to be no difficulty in 
disposing of any of the dishes made, particularly to the maker. An 
extension of facilities for teaching boys is being requested in connec- 
tion with the Boy Scout movement, but it is doubtful whether expend- 
iture would be sanctioned for this purpose until all the requirements 
for girls are satisfied. 

The courses in laundry work, which is either taught concurrently 
with or immediately after cookery, is directed to the demonstration of 
the chemical properties and value of the different materials used in 
the washing process and to imparting a certain degree of skill. 
Instruction is thus given in the different properties of hard and soft 
water, and in the use of ammonia, turpentine, borax, methylated 
spirits, bran, and paraffin in cleansing clothes and removing stains. 
The rules for washing different fabrics and colored materials are 
taught and carried out in practice. The courses also include the 
folding, mangling, ironing, and starching of clothes. In connection 
with laundry work the importance of timely repair and care.of clothing 
and the suitability of different materials for clothing are discussed. 



70 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

The materials which are used for practical work are, as a rule, brought 
by the pupils from their homes. 

Housewifery, which is not taught so commonly as cookery and 
laundry work, is a general course dealing with the care of the home 
and household management. For practical work in connection 
with this course either a set of rooms in the domestic-science center 
or a cottage home is equipped. The subject forms the last of the 
three domestic subjects, and in London is taken during the last year 
of school life for one session a week. In Manchester the subject is 
taught as part of the combined domestic-subjects course for which 
the girls attend the center for about eight weeks at a time toward the 
close of their school careers, during which period they omit all other 
school work. The experiment is also being tried in a few London 
schools. The course in housewifery includes such subjects as house- 
hold accounts, the apportionment of income, the choice of a house, 
the choice of furniture, household hygiene and sanitation, household 
sewing, and the arrangement of household cleaning for the day or 
week. On the practical side each girl takes her part in cleaning the 
house or center. In connection with housewifery, or if it is not 
taught in connection with the other subjects, personal hygiene and 
the care of infants are taught, and instruction is given in home 
nursing, first aid to the injured, the treatment of slight ailments, and 
simple remedies. In Manchester the instruction in the care of 
infants is taught to the older girls by a school nurse, who fre- 
quently illustrates the bathing and dressing of babies on living 
subjects accommodatingly lent for the occasion. 

In the combined course the three subjects cookery, laundry work, 
and housewifery are brought together in the practical management of 
a model home, which, as pointed out in the last paragraph, consists 
either of a set of rooms or a small house rented locally. The course 
is taken continuously or once a week throughout a longer period. 
Under the scheme of continuous instruction the girls have the advan- 
tage of crystallizing in actual experience the knowledge gained in the 
separate courses far better than is possible under the alternative 
plan. In spite of the objection previously raised that this part of the 
curriculum comes at too early a stage in the lives of the girls to be of 
permanent value, the keen interest of the girls and the earnestness of 
the teachers of these subjects are adequate testimony of the imme- 
diate success attained. 

(4) PHYSICAL TRAINING AND ORGANIZED GAMES. 

As in the matter of medical inspection and the provision of meals 
to necessitous children, attention was drawn to the importance of 
physical training in elementary schools by the alarmist views on 
physical degeneration of the nation which were prevalent a few 
years ago. Physical training of children is accordingly part of the 



THE TEACHING OF SPECIAL SUBJECTS. 71 

service for promoting the physical welfare of the nation. In 1904 
the question of physical training was considered by an interdepart- 
mental committee, and a Syllabus of Physical Exercises was issued 
for use in the elementary schools. The syllabus was based entirely 
on the Swedish system, which had already been introduced in London, 
replacing the Model Course issued in 1902, which had a military bias. 
Modified editions of this syllabus were issued in 1905 and 1909, and 
through the recommendation of the board have been introduced in 
most elementary schools, except where an alternative scheme approved 
by the board is in use, as in Manchester. The inspection of physical 
training has been placed in the hands of the medical department of 
the Board of Education. 

The aim of the syllabus is to secure physical and educational results 
by means of a series of progressive exercises. On the One hand the 
careful performance of the exercises should lead to the general and 
harmonious physical development of the scholars and serve as a 
corrective, for example, in the case of mouth breathing, spinal 
curvature, and flat foot. The syllabus does not deal with the remedial 
value of physical exercises, especially in connection with the school 
medical inspection. On the educational side the aim is to secure 
habits of order and discipline, activity and alertness of mind, deter- 
mination and endurance, and aesthetic perception of physical beauty 
and form. The exercises, which are based on the physiological needs 
of growing children, are described in simple terms, and a uniform 
system of commands is used. It is hoped by uniformity of teaching 
to make the scheme national. 

About one hour in each week is devoted to physical exercises in 
most schools, divided either into three lessons of 20 minutes or two 
lessons of 30 minutes each. In addition to the regular exercises 
teachers may introduce a few simple exercises in the classroom be- 
tween any two lessons, for their recreative effect. From lack of 
space these usually consist of breathing exercises. The regular les- 
sons are, so far as possible, taken in the playground by the ordi- 
nary class teacher. The central hall, if there is one, is used in bad 
weather; otherwise the exercises are taken in the classrooms. Some 
local educational authorities employ superintendents of physical 
exercises (e. g., London has six, Manchester one), whose duty is not 
only to supervise the teaching of the subject but also to provide 
classes for the training of teachers. The necessity of providing special 
classes for teachers will gradually disappear as the newer generation 
of teachers takes its place in the schools, for physical training in 
accordance with the official syllabus must now be taught in all train- 
ing colleges. The subject is generally very well taught, and the 
scholars perform their exercises with admirable accuracy and pre- 
cision. The chief defect, and one which is probably inevitable in most 
elementary schools, is the inappropriateness of the dress of the 



72 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

scholars. In a few girls' schools a simple costume, suitable for general 
school wear as well as physical exercises, is worn, but generally both 
the boys and girls wear too much clothing to obtain the full benefit 
of the free exercises. Some teachers allow the boys to remove their 
coats, but in this matter the parents need to be educated more than 
their children. 

The syllabus recommends the following arrangement of the groups 
of exercises to constitute a complete lesson: Introductory and 
breathing exercises; trunk bending, backward and forward; arm bend- 
ing and stretching; balance exercises; shoulder-blade exercises; 
trunk turning and bending sideways; marching, running, jumping 
(including games), and breathing exercises, 1 which may be interspersed 
between the other exercises. The introductory exercises include the 
necessary evolutions for getting the class into lines. The exercises 
are performed to simple words of command and explanation, and 
one effect of the general adoption of the syllabus has been the intro- 
duction of uniformity of commands and terminology throughout the 
country. The classes are taught by the personal demonstration of 
the teachers or one or two selected pupils after the teachers have 
shown the exercises. The syllabus is arranged to suit the physical 
needs and capabilities of children of different ages, beginning at the 
age of 7. The physical training of infant school children is not re- 
quired to be formal and is sufficiently provided for in the games, 
plays, and other exercises commonly taught them. 

Physical training, when originally introduced, was intended to 
serve as a recreation, a break from the excessive mental work of the 
ordinary subjects. But the modern recognition that physical exer- 
cises must to a certain extent be exacting, mentally and physically, 
for children has led to the addition of games and dancing in order to 
vary the formal exercises with exercises involving free movements. 
While the games are valuable in introducing variety, cooperation, 
and a love of play of a wholesome character, the introduction of 
dancing steps, especially in girls' schools results in improved carriage 
and graceful movement. In one school in Lambeth, a very poor dis- 
trict of London, highly successful results are attained among the girls 
by instruction in barefoot dancing. Not only do the girls perform 
the dances with much grace of poise and balance, but the removal of 
the boots and stockings makes them careful about the appear- 
ance of their feet, and no girl is prevented from receiving the full 
physical benefits of the exercises by badly fitting or almost useless 
footgear. 

Since 1 906 the Board of Education has permitted the introduction 
of organized games into the curriculum. The period occupied with 
these games must be confined to one morning or one afternoon in 



See Bd. of Ed., Syllabus of Physical Exercises, p. 65. 



THE TEACHING OF SPECIAL SUBJECTS. 73 

each week. Not less than one-half hour and not more than two hours 
may be given to this form of physical exercise, exclusive of any time 
taken in going to and from the playing field. The chief games in 
which boys take part are cricket, football, and rounders, while the 
chief games for girls are cricket, rounders, hockey, and basket ball. 
The games are commonly played in the school playgrounds, but in- 
creasing attention is paid by local education authorities to the ques- 
tion of providing adequate playing fields, at any rate for the older 
children, in the same way as they are provided for secondary schools. 
In London arrangements were made in 1911 with the Parks arid 
Open Space Committee for the use of 30 parks and open spaces for 
organized games of school children. In Liverpool arrangements are 
made for some 30 schools to use parks and recreation grounds for 
the purpose of organized games, while similar facilities exist and are 
extending in Manchester. The children are under the care of a 
teacher during the games. The introduction of organized games has 
been one of the strongest factors in promoting a corporate spirit in 
elementary schools, as effective in some of these as in the secondary 
schools. Much depends on the interest of the teachers, who are more 
and more devoting themselves to this side of school life both in and 
out of school hours. Interscholastic leagues are everywhere being 
formed and in the north an intercity school athletic league exists; 
and series of matches, which must be played out of school hours, 
are being arranged between schools. The expenses are met either by 
voluntary contributions of scholars and parents or out of the pro- 
ceeds of school concerts, etc. Track athletics are similarly encour- 
aged, as in Manchester, by the holding of an annual field day open 
to all elementary-school children. 

Instruction in swimming forms another important branch of 
physical education. Attendance at swimming baths is recognized by 
the Board of Education as part of the minimum time required for 
attendance grants. A few elementary schools, as in Liverpool, are 
equipped with swimming tanks, but these are the rare exceptions. 
The usual practice is for the local education authority to make ar- 
rangements with the baths committee of the Council to admit school 
children to the baths for purposes of instruction or practice in swim- 
ming. In London the baths belonging to the Council, borough coun- 
cils, and private owners are utilized, and in the summer months a 
few of the lakes in the public parks are used. Swimming is taught 
from April to the end of October. Children over 11 years of age, 
provided they have no physical debility, are allowed to take part in 
the lessons, not more than 25 being given during the summer months 
and 35 during the year, if the lessons continue throughout that 
period. Not more than 40 children are allowed in a class for instruc- 
tion in swimming, which is given either by a special instructor or 



74 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

by the class teacher. Certificates of proficiency are awarded to 
scholars who pass the tests, viz, 40 yards for boys and 20 yards for 
girls. Children who are able to swim, the test being 10 yards, are 
allowed to receive instruction in life-saving and may be entered for 
the examination and certificate of the Royal Life Saving Society, 
which grants medals and certificates for proficiency in life-saving 
throughout the country. The London County Council also grants 
scholarships in swimming, entitling the holders to use the baths 
once each day for half an hour. 

In Manchester the baths committee of the city council grants free 
admission to the swimming baths to scholars in the elementary 
schools over 7 years of age, if accompanied by a teacher, and pro- 
vides instruction. Scholars who are not accompanied by a teacher 
are admitted at a cost of 2 cents or 1 cent, according to the class of 
bath used, on the presentation of a pass ticket, which is supplied to the 
school authorities. During the midsummer holidays free admission is 
granted at certain times to elementary-school children without any 
formality. In addition the committee grants free admissions to the 
baths for 12 months to scholars who win any of the championships 
competed for under the auspices of the Manchester and Salford dis- 
trict school swimming association or obtain the proficiency certificates 
of the Royal Life Saving Society. 



Chapter VIII. 

PLAYGROUNDS. 

There are very few elementary schools, and those the oldest, which 
are not provided with some form of open space around the buildings. 
Since 1871 the building regulations of the central educational author- 
ity have required playgrounds " properly leveled, drained, and 
inclosed." The present regulations draw attention to the need of 
an open, airy playground suited to the size of the school and so 
arranged that direct sunlight may be admitted to the classrooms. 
"The minimum size of site is, in the absence of exceptional circum- 
stances, a quarter of an acre for every 250 children, irrespective of 
the space required for a teacher's or caretaker's house, or for a 
cookery or other center. If the school is of more than one story, 
this area may be proportionately reduced ; but a minimum unbuilt-on 
or open space of 30 square feet per child should be preserved." 
Separate playgrounds are required for boys and for girls, but infants 
are allowed to share the same playground as the girls. The play- 
grounds are to be square or rectangular in shape and free from 
buttresses, corners, or recesses, and a portion is to be covered. It is 
obvious that such requirements can only be applied to new schools, 
but it is the intention of the Board of Education to press for the 
observance of these regulations in remodeling older schools. 

In an inquiry 1 recently conducted into the whole question of play- 
grounds by a departmental committee of the Board of Education it 
was found that generally local education authorities were opposed 
to the requirement of 30 square feet of space for each child. The 
objection was made largely on the ground of expense in providing 
large playgrounds in thickly congested areas, as well as on the 
ground that the requirement is larger than is necessary for all ordi- 
nary school purposes. The committee, however, came to the decision 
that the requirement of 30 square feet per child should continue to 
be insisted upon for new schools, but local circumstances, such as 
the provision or use of playing fields outside the school area, should 
be considered in allowing a reduction. In the case of old schools 
it was recommended, in view of the difficulties in making extensions 
and the cost of land, that an extension of time should be allowed, 

1 See Bd. of Ed. Report of the departmental committee appointed to inquire into certain questions 
in connection with the playgrounds of public elementary schools, London, 1912. 

75 



76 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

and that by 1920 a school with less than 10 square feet per child 
should be regarded as unsatisfactory, while after 1925 less than 15 
square feet should not be regarded as sufficient. 1 

The chief uses of the playground are for recreation during school 
intervals, for physical exercises, and for organized games. The 
committee concluded that for the purpose of recreation, for free 
motion and unrestrained activity during the 10 or 15 minutes of the 
recess, 20 square feet per child are ample, provided that the number 
of children in a department is large and the playground is of a satis- 
factory shape. Both boys and girls require the same amount of 
space, but it is probable that a somewhat smaller provision is adequate 
for young children up to about 7 or 8. The advantage of conducting 
physical exercises in the open air so far as possible furnishes another 
reason for a good playground large enough to afford the teacher a 
full view of the class during instruction; to allow room for marching, 
running, and games; and to accommodate eight classes during the 
day. To meet these requirements about 50 square feet per child 
ought to be available. But the minimum of 30 square feet per child, 
as suggested by the Board of Education, is essential if any attempt 
is made to introduce organized games. It is recognized that at best 
the playgrounds are a poor substitute for playing fields and that 
games played on them must be modified on account of the proximity 
of the school buildings and the hard surface, but since the play- 
grounds, especially in congested areas, will frequently provide the 
only opportunities for organized games, the minimum is fixed at 30 
square feet per child. Exceptions are to be allowed, however, in 
favor of small schools with less than 200 children and for schools 
which are within easy reach of open spaces, parks, or playing fields. 
In the latter case only the minimum requirements of space needed 
for recreation will be considered, i. e., 20 square feet per child, while 
in the former a minimum requirement of 2,000 square feet and 10 
square feet beyond that for each child in the school. 

In practice there is little variation in the uses to which the play- 
grounds are put. In all schools the pupils are assembled in fine by 
classes before proceeding to their rooms before school opens and after 
the intervals. Separate playgrounds are provided for boys and for 

1 It may be of interest to quote the final recommendations of the departmental committee referred to 
above on the size of playgrounds in new schools (loc. cit., p. 56): 
" That where provision is made for games— 

(a) Each undivided playground for 200 children and upward should provide— (i) 20 square feet for 

each older child; (ii) 16 square feet for each infant. 

(b) Each undivided playground for less than 200 children should provide 2,000 square feet, together 

with— (i) 10 square feet for each older child; (ii) 6 square feet for each infant. 
That where no other provision is made for games— 

(a) Each undivided playground for 200 children and upward should provide— (i) 30 square feet for 

each older child; (ii) 16 square feet for each infant. 

(b) Each undivided playground for less than 200 children should provide 2,000 square feet, together 

with— (i) 20 square feet for each older child; (ii) 6 square feet for each infanl ." 



PLAYGROUNDS. 77 

girls, but with few exceptions the girls share their playground with the 
infant department. An interval of 10 or 15 minutes is provided for 
recreation during each school session, and during these periods the 
children are allowed to relax as they please. One or more teachers 
may exercise a general supervision, but otherwise no restraint is 
enforced. In wet weather the covered sheds of the playgrounds may 
be used, but it is generally admitted that these are dark and dismal 
and, when crowded with children, tend to become unwholesome. 
Indoor playrooms of the kind provided in many schools in New York 
are not found ; nor are they regarded as adequate substitutes for the 
open-air playgrounds. 

Within recent years the wholesome practice of conducting the 
physical exercises out of doors has grown up, and with older children 
is carried on right through the year except when it is wet. But while 
the scholars have the advantage of the open air, the amount of dust 
raised during the work may counteract the beneficial effects; nor 
in most cases are the lavatory accommodations of the schools sufficient 
to enable the pupils to wash off the dirt which necessarily accompanies 
some of the exercises. 

The teachers, especially the women, often object to taking the 
physical exercises in the open on account of the passers-by, but such 
objections are not insuperable. When the weather does not warrant 
taking classes out of doors or in the covered sheds, which are not 
favored by teachers, the exercises are conducted in the halls, where 
the careful teachers do not forget to admit sufficient air by opening 
the windows. 

It has been estimated that there are between 40 and 50 games which 
can be played in school playgrounds. The favorite games can, how- 
ever, be reduced to a much smaller number; they include cricket, 
football, rounders, and running games for boys; and rounders, 
basket ball, and hockey for girls. Since these are the most popular 
games, and since a playing field is the best place for them, there are 
many teachers who do not think that the playground is at all suitable 
for organized games. The children do not seem to have the same 
objection, and although the games must be modified — cricket can 
not be played with a hard ball, and footballers must often be content 
with grounds much below the regulation size, while in both cases the 
hard surfaces of the playgrounds are not the best places to fall on — 
the popularity of the games in school playgrounds is rapidly increasing, 

These three uses practically exhaust the purposes for which the 
playgrounds are at present employed. Other occasional uses are 
dealt with elsewhere; they include the teaching of practical arith- 
metic, scale drawing, and the drawing of plans (see pp. 46, 133), 
open-air classes (see Ch. XII), and vacation classes (see Ch. XIII). 
Many of the newer school playgrounds are equipped for school gar- 



78 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

dening and nature study. It has been found that a perimeter round 
the playground of about 3| feet from the boundary is practically 
useless for purposes of play; this space is now frequently utilized for 
planting shrubs, plants, and flowers. 

Roof playgrounds, which are so common in the schools of the 
larger American cities, are found in but small numbers in the English 
schools. The need for them, in spite of the rise in the price of land, has 
not been so pressing as, for example, in New York or Chicago. The 
older schools, which were established before the importance of the play- 
ground was recognized, are mainly in the centers of the towns, from 
which the population is receding. The newer schools are accordingly 
built in the outskirts, where land is cheaper and the expense for 
adequate playgrounds is not so great. In fact, many local education 
authorities are exceeding the minimum of 30 square feet per child 
in the playgrounds of their newer schools. Roof playgrounds are 
accepted as meeting the requirements of the Board of Education 
and are regarded as adapted for instruction in certain subjects, as 
well as for play, but their cost is often prohibitive, and in congested 
areas they are exposed to the smoke from the neighboring houses and 
even factories. 

The essential requirement of a school playground is that it shall 
withstand the necessary wear and tear to which it is subjected and 
satisfactorily fulfill the purposes for which it exists. The surfaces 
must be hard, but not too hard, in order to avoid risk of serious 
injury to the children when they fall; they must dry quickly and 
not be dirty and dusty. No standard type of material for the sur- 
faces of playgrounds has been adopted, but those in most general 
use are tar paving (London), asphalt (Manchester), and granolithic 
preparations (Liverpool). Gravel, shale, ashes, and cinders are also 
used by some authorities. It has been found that the material used in 
Liverpool — 4 inches of broken stones or brick, with a granolithic 
face of 2 \ inches in thickness composed of granolithic chippings and 
cement — gives a surface at a cost of 75 cents a square yard which will 
last for 25 years with little repair. The London surfaces — layers of 
Kentish rag stone mixed with hot tar to a thickness of 2| inches 
over a basis of 6-inch hardcore — cost about 56 cents and remain in 
good condition for 10 to 15 years or even longer. The cost of asphalt 
surfaces in Manchester is 40 cents a square yard. Each authority 
claims advantages for its playgrounds, but the opinion generally is 
that asphalt is too slippery and difficult to keep in repair, does not 
dry quickly, and is very hard. 



Chapter IX. 

MEDICAL INSPECTION OF SCHOOLS. 

The beginning of the twentieth century has seen a rapid extension 
in England of the provisions for the conservation and protection of 
child life. Probably the most important and wide-reaching of these 
measures is that which provides for the medical inspection of ele- 
mentary school children. Defective children had already been cared 
for by the elementary education (Blind and Deaf Children) act of 1893 
and the elementary education (Defective and Epileptic Children) 
act of 1899. Several factors contributed to the promotion of medical 
inspection of all school children. The subject of school hygiene, 
which had already occupied for some time past the attention of spe- 
cialists, was brought into public notice by the Second International 
Congress on School Hygiene. Hence it is realized that there is an 
important connection between physical and mental conditions, and 
that many pupils are unable, owing to physical unfitness, to profit by 
school instruction. The importance of a school medical service was 
further emphasized by the reports of the royal commission on physi- 
cal training (Scotland), 1903, which recommended the appointment 
of school medical officers for remedial and statistical purposes, and 
of the interdepartmental committee on physical degeneration, 1904, 
which included within the scope of its report the questions of physical 
training, medical inspection, and the feeding of school children. In 
the following year a committee appointed by the president of the 
Board of Education reported on the existing arrangements for 
medical inspection and its results, and on the feeding of children. 
School medical officers had been employed in London since 1890 and 
in Bradford since 1893, while some of the secondary schools, notably 
Rugby, had appointed an officer before these dates. The result of 
these reports and of public interest in the question was the passing 
of the education (Provision of Meals) act of 1906, and a proposal in 
the education (England and Wales) bill, introduced in the same year, 
to empower local education authorities to establish a school medical 
service. The bill failed to become law, but in the next year, 1907, 
the education (Administrative Provisions) act contained under sec- 
tion 13 1(6) the following provision: 

13. The powers and duties of the local education authority under Part III of the 
Education Act, 1902, shall include — 
(6) The duty to provide for the medical inspection of children immediately before 
or at the time of or as soon as possible after their admission to a public ele- 
mentary school, and on such other occasion as the Board of Education direct, 
and the power to make such arrangements as may be sanctioned by the Board 
of Education for attending to the health and physical condition of the chil- 
dren educated in public elementary schools. 

79 



80 ELEMENTAKY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

The act was further supplemented by article 25(c) of the ele- 
mentary school code for 1908, which made the satisfactory provision 
of medical inspection of school children one of the conditions for 
obtaining the annual grant. In 1907 a medical department was 
established in the Board of Education. 

In the Memorandum on Medical Inspection of Children in Public 
Elementary Schools, circular 576, issued in 1907, to explain the 
scope and purposes of the act and to suggest a scheme for the organ- 
ization of the medical service, medical inspection is declared to be 
a measure for the prevention of national physical unfitness by the 
improvement of the environment and physical life of children, and 
" seeks to secure ultimately for every child, normal or defective, 
conditions of life compatible with that full and effective develop- 
ment of its organic functions, its special senses, and its mental powers 
which constitute a true education." The aim of the act is thus both 
social, in that its ultimate purpose is the physical and moral im- 
provement of the nation, and educational, since it involves an 
adaptation of "the methods of teaching to the special physical needs 
of the children." 

In accordance with this twofold aim close cooperation between the 
school medical service and the public health service, operated under 
the local government board, was recommended. Under the latter, 
medical officers of health had already been required to report on the 
sanitary condition of schools and "the action taken (by the local 
sanitary authorities) in relation to the health of the scholars and for 
preventing the spread of infectious disease." The majority of the 
local education authorities, accordingly, appointed the existing 
medical officer as school medical officer and provided him with such 
assistance as was demanded by the needs of their districts. Where 
a special school medical officer was appointed, provision was made 
for thorough coordination with the public health service. Thus the 
school medical staff of the London County Council consisted in 
October, 1912, of 64 officers acting under the supervision of the 
school medical officer, who is also county medical officer of health. 
The same arrangement exists in Liverpool, where the city medical 
officer of health is also the school medical officer, and is assisted by 
a staff of five doctors. The dual arrangement, where the supervision 
of the two services is not in the same hands, is found in Manchester, 
which has both a medical officer of health and a school medical 
officer assisted by six doctors. Where the two services are distinct, 
they cooperate closely in such matters as the supervision of infectious 
diseases, exclusion of pupils from school and the closure of schools 
on medical grounds, the cleansing of verminous children and the 
homes from which they come, and other matters which would come 
under the category of improvement of the 'general environment 
referred to above. Under many of these headings the duplication 



MEDICAL INSPECTION OF SCHOOLS. 81 

of records is involved and arrangements have, in Manchester, for ex- 
ample, been successfully made for this purpose. 

While the Board of Education does not prescribe the qualifica- 
tions of school medical officers, it recommends that in making ap- 
pointments " preference should be given to medical men and women 
who (1) have had adequate training in state edicine or hold a 
diploma in public health, (2) have had some d nite experience of 
school hygiene, and (3) have enjoyed special opportunities for the 
study of diseases in children." The school medical service has 
hardly been established long enough to demand a knowledge of edu- 
cation or of the hygiene of teaching as a qualification, but, from the 
extremely interesting studies made in school hygiene and the physical 
life of school children, there is some warrant for believing that the 
other problems will also be investigated. Among such studies the 
following, made by the assistant school medical officers of Man- 
chester, may be mentioned: Conditions associated with " backward- 
ness in school children"; physical condition and mental powers; the 
eyesight of school children; the effect of environment on physique; 
notes on the artificial illumination of schools; the physique of Jewish 
and other children. 1 

In addition to the professional staff, the school medical officers are 
assisted by school nurses or health visitors and teachers. The school 
nurses may assist the medical officers in preparing scholars for 
inspection, making the records of inspection, securing personal clean- 
liness of the children, carrying out simple medical treatment, and 
above all in serving as the links between the school and the home. 
Not only may they follow up cases, but they can observe home con- 
ditions, advise parents, and generally help to secure the wider aims 
of the act. 

The teachers have been found of the greatest service in the cause 
of school medical inspection. Recognizing, as they do, the great 
importance of physical well-being for educational progress, they read- 
ily cooperate in the work. They are able to furnish data about the 
scholars, and in some cases to undertake such parts of inspection as 
the testing of vision and hearing. Under the system adopted by 
many authorities, they frequently select the special cases which, in 
their opinion, require inspection not provided for in the routine. 
They also have the power to exclude children temporarily to await 
the decision of the medical officer, and they cooperate with the 
school nurse or health visitor in drawing his attention to dirty or 
verminous children. 

As the system is organized at present, provision is made for the 
routine inspection of children once on their admission to school and 

1 For a list of other studies made in England and Wales, see Rep. of the Chief Med. Officer of the Bd. 
of Ed., for l'Jll,pp. 10-12. 

4832°— 14 G 



82 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

a second time before they leave — that is, between the ages of 5 and 6 
on the one hand and 13 and 14 on the other. It was soon found, 
however, that the teachers referred special cases for examination. 
Hence the inspection includes " entrants," "leavers," and special 
cases. In London special provision is made for the examination of 
an additional grouj between the ages of 8 and 9. It was the original 
intention of the I rd of Education that there should be not less 
than four inspections, as follows: The first at about the time of 
admission to school; the second at or about the third year of school 
life, that is, at about the seventh year of age; and the third at or 
about the sixth year of school life, that is, the tenth year of age; 
with a final examination at or about the time of leaving school. 
When the system is fully organized it seems highly probable that 
these four inspections, as well as the inspection of special cases, will 
be demanded by the board. Particular stress is laid by the chief 
medical officer of the board on the thorough examination of leavers, 
since the examination of this group may serve as a test of the success 
of the system, may be of service to authorities administering the 
National Insurance Act, and may be of direct assistance in advising 
juveniles on the choice of employment suitable to their physical 
condition. For the last purpose, close cooperation is recommended, 
and is in fact in practice under many authorities, between the school 
medical service and the juvenile employment exchanges or commit- 
tees. 1 In London 2 head teachers are advised to — 

bring to the doctor's notice those pupils who are about to leave school, and to whom 
it is desirable, having regard to their physical condition, that the doctor should give 
advice as to the kind of work which should or should not be taken up by them after 
leaving school. 

Parents are advised of the time when the inspection is to take 
place, and are requested to be present. The interest of the parents 
is being fostered, but, while the percentage of attendances is increas- 
ing, it is still somewhat low, and higher for the inspection of the 
entrants than for the leavers. Thus, in Liverpool, in 1911, 38.8 
per cent of the parents, who were notified of the time, attended the 
inspection of their children; in Manchester the average for the same 
period was only 24 per cent; while for London the figure rises to 
62 per cent. The presence of the parents, while it is of importance 
at the inspection of young children for the purpose of answering 
questions, is regarded as more valuable for the purpose of giving 
advice as to treatment where defects are discovered. In the absence 
of the parents notifications are sent, if necessary, through the children, 
the school nurse, the post, or, in graver cases, are served by the 
school-attendance officer. 

i Rep. of Chief Med. Off. of Bd. of Ed. for 1911, Sec. XIII, pp. 245-268. 

2 L. C. C. Handbook containing general information with reference to the work in connection with the 
children's care (central) subcommittee, par. 40. 



MEDICAL INSPECTION" OF SCHOOLS. 83 

The examinations must take place on school premises and during 
school hours, with as little disturbance of the school arrangements as 
possible. Accordingly, vacant classrooms, teachers' rooms, or even 
the corner of a classroom, in which instruction is going on, are utilized. 
The purpose of the medical examination is to secure "the broad, 
simple necessities of a healthy life;" it is not intended that it shall 
be "thorough and elaborate," and it has been found in practice that 
seven or eight children can thus be examined in an hour. It is 
suggested in the Memorandum referred to above that the following 
matters should form the subjects of the examination: 

(1) Previous disease, including infectious di&eases. 

(2) General condition and circumstances: (a) Height and weight; (6) nutrition 
[good, medium, bad]; (c) cleanliness [including vermin of head and body]; (d) clothing 
[sufficiency, cleanliness, and footgear]. 

(3) Throat, nose, and articulation [mouth breathing, snoring, stammering, tonsillar 
and glandular conditions, adenoids]. 

(4) External eye disease and vision testing. 

(5) Ear disease and deafness. 

(6) Teeth and oral sepsis. 

(7) Mental capacity [normal, backward, defective]. 

(8) Present disease or defect: [(a) Deformities or paralyses; (6) rickets; (^tubercu- 
losis (glandular, pulmonary, osseous, or other forms) ; (d) diseases of skin and lymph 
glands; (e) disease of heart or lungs; (/) anaemia; (g) epilepsy; (h) chorea; (i) ruptures; 
(j) spinal disease; (k) any weakness or defect unfitting the child for ordinary school 
life or physical drill, or requiring either exemption from special branches of instruction 
or particular supervision]. 

At the request of several local education authorities the Board of 
Education published a suggested schedule of medical inspection. 
The accompanying schedule is used in Manchester, and is based on 
that suggested by the board, but has included some additional 
details of value. It will be noticed that provision is here made for 
the four medical examinations, which will no doubt be ultimately 
introduced. Provision is also made on the back of this card for secur- 
ing information as to the home conditions of the children, which 
would be of value for the purpose of following up. 



84 



ELEMENTAKY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 




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86 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

But the system of medical inspection was not established for the 
purposes of making records and statistical collections. Its ultimate 
value depends on the arrangements for amelioration and the raising 
of the standards of health. The complete school medical service 
accordingly provides for medical treatment and aftercare. In 
section 13 of the education (Administrative Provisions) act power 
was granted to local education authorities to make arrangements 
for attending to the health and physical condition of children. The 
expense of establishing and maintaining the school medical service 
and providing for medical treatment was felt to be a considerable 
addition to the heavy financial burden of the local authorities. The 
board of education, however, has set aside the. sum of $300,000 to 
provide grants toward approved arrangements for medical treatment. 
The employment of hitherto existing agencies was not excluded. 
These included the measures under the public health acts for sani- 
tation, disinfection, the supervision and care of infectious diseases, 
and the establishment of hospitals; the regulations for the sanitation 
of schools; the provisions for the treatment of physically and men- 
tally defective children; the provision of meals; and the powers 
under the children act of 1908. 

The experience of the first few years of medical inspection suggested 
the need of adopting measures for the treatment, in particular, of 
ringworm, teeth, eyes and ears, skin diseases, and dirty and verminous 
conditions in children. The tracing of infectious diseases and the 
cleansing of children are conducted generally by the school medical 
and the public health services in cooperation. The teachers, school 
nurses, and the school medical officers notify the medical officer of 
health, if he is not also the school medical officer, of all cases of 
infectious diseases, suspects, and carriers or contacts, while the 
medical officer of health keeps the school authorities informed of 
outbreaks of infectious diseases. Cases of infection are followed up 
by the officers of the public health department, which also undertakes 
the cleansing and disinfection of the homes of the affected persons. 
Both the school medical officer and the medical officer of health are 
now authorized to order the exclusion of suspects or carriers from 
school or the complete or partial closure of schools in the event of the 
outbreak of an epidemic. Of the infectious diseases, school attend- 
ance is most affected by measles and very markedly by whooping 
cough. The school medical officers are making strenuous efforts to 
enlighten the public on the subject of measles, to explode some of 
the popular notions as to its inevitability and mildness, and to impress 
them with some of the seriousness of the aftereffects. Teachers have 
also been instructed to watch for the premonitory symptoms, and in 
Manchester have been provided with a booklet giving information 
on the subject of infectious diseases. In the case of skin diseases, 




MEDICAL INSPECTION OF SCHOOLS. 87 

defective eyesight, diseases of the ear, uncleanliness, and other 
defects discovered at the medical inspection, parents are informed 
and treatment is recommended. The treatment may be applied in. 
simple cases at home by the parent or by the school nurse or health 
visitor, who in any case visits the home to advise and assist where 
necessary, or a recommendation may be made that a private practi- 
tioner should be consulted. Cases referred for treatment are noted 
by the medical officer for reexamination when the school is next 
visited, and are kept under observation. In more serious cases, 
where the routine examination does not permit of a thorough inspec- 
tion, children may be put back for examination at the inspection 
or observation clinic. In following up the cases recommended for 
treatment, the nurses are assisted by the observations of the teachers, 
by school managers, or members of school care committees, who 
advise parents, inquire into financial conditions, and give informa- 
tion, when this has not already been given by the school medical 
officer, as to the existing agencies for the provision of free or cheap 
medical treatment. Where it is found that parents have neglected 
to provide medical treatment, two courses are open to the local 
education authorities: They may (1) exclude a child from school 
and prosecute the parents for its nonattendance, or (2) proceed 
against the parents under the children act of 1908, for neglecting to 
provide medical treatment. Where parents have received notice 
to cleanse a child infected with vermin or in a filthy condition and 
have neglected to do so within 24 hours of the notice, the school 
medical officer is empowered by section 122 of the children act of 
1908, and in London under the L. C. C. general powers act of 1907, 
to have the child removed to be cleansed in suitable premises. 
In most cases the cleansing stations provided by the local sanitary 
authority are used for this purpose. 

The problem of treatment in the case of other defects has been 
surrounded with considerable difficulties, except of course where 
school clinics have been established. Experience has shown that 
there has been a considerable amount of leakage between medical 
inspection and treatment. The Board of Education may approve 
arrangements for treatment in hospitals and dispensaries, but here 
there enters the difficulty of adequate coordination, since these 
agencies are for the general use of the public and not confined to 
children only. Teachers generally are critical of this system, since 
it involves loss of time in going to and from and in waiting at the 
hospitals or centers, and it is also found that parents, who must also 
sacrifice time in accompanying their children, frequently do not 
continue until a complete cure is attained. A satisfactory scheme, 
based on the use of hospitals and voluntary treatment centers estab- 
lished by local bodies of medical practitioners, has, however, been 



88 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION" IN ENGLAND. 

inaugurated in London. Arrangements have been made with 11 
hospitals and 17 treatment centers to provide for the treatment of 
school children suffering from certain ailments; usually defects of the 
eye, ear, nose, and throat; ringworm; and defects of teeth. An 
assistant organizer of school care committees is in attendance at the 
centers to regulate the attendance of the children and to keep the 
care committees in touch with cases under treatment. There are,' 
in addition, centers for the provision of X-ray treatment of ringworm. 
These measures provide for the treatment of about two-thirds of the 
school children annually needing treatment, the remaining third 
being treated privately. In Liverpool and Manchester no thorough- 
going arrangement for medical treatment has yet been established, 
but there is a strong movement in both cities for the establishment 
very shortly of school clinics along the lines of the successful school 
clinic existing for some time in Bradford, which provides adequate 
arrangements for the treatment of defective vision, diseases of the 
external eye and eyelids, ringworm (both drug and X-ray treatment), 
skin diseases, ear discharge, and defects of teeth. A center for the 
X-ray treatment of ringworm has been established recently in 
Liverpool, and an inspection center for this and other defects is in 
existence in Manchester. From the point of view of school attend- 
ance, medical inspection has disclosed that ringworm is responsible 
for the largest percentage of absentees, and without an X-ray equip- 
ment is the most stubborn disease to eradicate, thus involving the 
loss of considerable amount of the Government grant annually. For 
the treatment of cases of defective vision local educational authorities 
may, with the sanction of the Board of Education, supply suitable 
and inexpensive spectacles, provided proper precautions are taken 
that the examination and prescription are adequate. In London 
parents are assisted in the purchase of spectacles by the Association 
for the Supply of Spectacles in London Elementary Schools and by 
the Ogilvie Trust, both of which may remit the cost. In this con- 
nection a fairly widespread objection to wearing spectacles has been 
disclosed among the poorer classes, owing in the majority of cases 
to the fear that the wearing of spectacles may prove a handicap to 
securing employment. 

Besides treatment through the provision of spectacles, other 
remedial measures as suggested by school hygiene are adopted, 
especially the adequate supervision of the type of school textbooks, 
a subject which was reported upon by a committee of the British asso- 
ciation in 191 1 . Another matter, in which the school medical officers 
are confronted with much difficulty, is the education of parents on 
the importance of careful attention to the teeth. A great deal of 
indifference and ignorance exists on the subject among parents, but 
some excuse may be found for them in the inadequate provision for 



MEDICAL INSPECTION OF SCHOOLS. 89 

free or cheap dental treatment. The dental hospitals could not 
cope with the amount of work with which the medical officers would 
supply them, while the charges of the private practitioners are 
beyond the means of many parents of elementary-school children. 
The solution has, of course, been found in the provision of separate 
dental clinics or of facilities in the general school clinics, where they 
already exist. In Liverpool an experimental dental clinic was 
opened in connection with one of the schools and met with much 
success, while provision is made for the regular dental treatment of 
children in the industrial schools. In Manchester some success has 
attended the following up and observation of the most urgent cases. 
Much is also done by the teachers, in connection with the lessons in 
hygiene, to impress on the scholars the importance of cleaning the 
teeth. 

Although the local education authorities are permitted to provide 
medical treatment and spectacles, they are authorized by the Local 
Authorities Medical Treatment Act of 1909 to make a charge not 
exceeding the cost of the treatment, and to sue for the recovery of 
the amount except in cases where they are satisfied that the parents 
are clearly unable to meet the expense. 

The medical work of the school medical officer is not completed 
by the medical examination and the provision of medical treatment. 
The chief function of the service will always be ultimately prevention 
rather than cure. To this end the school medical officers are charged 
with the duty of advising local authorities on matters affecting the 
sanitary conditions of the school buildings. The changing require- 
ments and the higher standards of school hygiene demand increasing 
attention on the part of medical officers, not only in dealing with old, 
but also in planning new buildings. Such matters as ventilation, 
lighting, heating, the suitable provision of cloakrooms, the drinking 
water, the playgrounds, the offices, the prevention of dust in the 
classrooms all come within the purview of the school medical officers. 
Less attention has been paid to these branches of school architecture 
in England than in America, and many reports of medical officers 
contain references to the inadequacy of the arrangements. The 
cooperation of the medical service with the school architects will lead 
to improvement not only in these matters, but to the provision of 
additional accommodation in school buildings for baths, open-air 
classes, etc. In the classroom more attention will be paid from the 
hygienic and physical points of view to desks and seats, to the text- 
books, to the lessons in hygiene, and to the physical exercises. 
Lastly, mention may be made of the educational experiments of pub- 
lishing and distributing to parents and children leaflets containing 
rules of health for children; the arrangement of parents' evenings, 
as in London, with stereopticon lectures and talks on health; the 



90 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

establishment by voluntary agencies of " schools for mothers/' as in 
Manchester, in connection with which classes may be held in hygiene, 
cookery, sewing; and the instruction in infant care and management 
to the older girls in elementary schools. Under this heading the 
education committee of the London County Council has published 
" Health Hints to Parents," and the Liverpool education committee 
"Some Simple Health Rules for School Children," which is here 
reprinted. 

MEDICAL INSPECTION OF SCHOOL CHILDREN. 
Liverpool Education Committee. 



Some Simple Health Rules for School Children. 

The following few rules will, it is hoped, be found serviceable to parents of school 
children: 

Fresh air. — This is as necessary at night as it is in the daytime, and the bedroom 
window should always be kept open at the top during the night time, unless some 
special circumstance, such as bad weather, prevents it. 

Cleanliness. — 1. No child should have nits (eggs of lice) in the hair. The only 
really satisfactory method of getting rid of nits is to cut the hair short where the nits 
are found. 

2. To avoid having the hair infected, boys' hair should be kept quite short, and 
girls' hair should be worn in plaits. 

3. Parents should impress upon their children the danger of putting on other 
children's caps or hats; ringworm as well as vormin may be spread by neglect of this 
precaution. 

Sleep. — It is very important that children should have more sleep than they gen- 
erally do nowadays. Children of 5 to 7 should go to bed about 6 o'clock, 8 to 10 about 
7 o'clock, 11 to 13 not later than 8.30 o'clock, these rules being but slightly relaxed 
in the summer time. Late hours are responsible for much subsequent ill health. 

Food. — 1. Oatmeal in the form of porridge is especially suitable for children. 

2. Cow's milk should always be taken, not machine-skimmed condensed milk, as 
the latter has been deprived of much of its nourishing value. Milk puddings and 
bread and milk are suitable for children. 

3. Some meat or fish should be given to children every day. 

4. Tea is harmful to children; alcohol in any form even more so. 

5. Sweets, especially soft sweets, such as toffee or chocolates, should be sparingly 
taken. 

Care of the teeth. — 1. Every child from the age of 4 should have a toothbrush, and 
should use it twice a day, but certainly before going to bed. It is very important to 
wash the mouth out well with water after the teeth have been brushed. Camphorated 
chalk or precipitated chalk forms a good tooth powder. It will, of course, be neces- 
sary for the mother to attend to the brushing of the teeth of the younger children, but 
she should personally see that the toothbrush is used until the children have got into 
the habit of using it for themselves. Much future pain and discomfort will be avoided 
by its use, and some teeth will be saved from decaying. 

2. No biscuits or sweets should be given after the teeth have been brushed at night- 
time. 

3. All badly decayed teeth should be removed, and teeth of the second set com- 
mencing to decay should be stopped by a dentist. 




MEDICAL INSPECTION OF SCHOOLS. 91 

Clothing. — 1. This should be warm in texture and should fit loosely on the body. 

2. Woolen or flannel undergarments are the warmest, and help to prevent chills. 

3. No child should go to bed wearing any of the garments worn during the daytime. 

4. More clothing is required in cold than in hot weather. 

5. Girls should never be allowed to wear stiff corsets nor tight garments round the 
chest or waist, as this interferes with the proper growth and with breathing. 

6. Stockings should be kept up by the use of suspenders Tight garters are very 
harmful. 

7. Boots should be water-tight, and high or narrow heels should be especially 
avoided. 

Squint, or "turn of the eye," is always due to defective eyesight, and it is very 
important that it should be attended to as soon as it is noticed. 

Mouth breathing. — Many children instead of breathing, as they should do, through 
the nose, breathe habitually with their mouths open. In some instances this is 
merely a bad habit, but it is also frequently, especially when snoring occurs during 
sleep, due to enlarged tonsils or to growths at the back of the nose. Special breathing 
exercises fully described in a leaflet, which can be had through the teachers, from the 
school medical officer, materially assist in counteracting this habit. 

Discharging ears. — Some children suffer from a discharge from the ears. Medical 
advice should always be obtained for this, as neglect in many cases leads to very 
serious consequences. 

Measles and whooping cough. — These diseases are very fatal to infants and young 
children, and the longer an attack can be put off the less likely is it to be dangerous. 
Some children altogether escape having these diseases. No child, therefore, should 
be taken into or allowed to enter a house in which these or other infectious diseases 
are being treated. 

Medical Officer to the Educational Authority. 



Chapter X. 

THE FEEDING OF NECESSITOUS CHILDREN. 

Like the medical inspection of school children, the feeding of 
necessitous children in the elementary schools is as much an educa- 
tional as a social measure. It is national in scope, for its aim is the 
improvement of the physical standards of the nation; it is educa- 
tional in so far as it is a provision for those children " unable, by 
reason of lack of food, to take full advantage of the education pro- 
vided for them." Voluntary agencies had existed for some time to 
provide meals for poor children in the elementary schools, but their 
work was conceived rather as a charity than as a measure to insure 
conditions conducive to the highest benefit resulting to the chil- 
dren from the instruction given in school. As a consequence of 
the reports of the physical deterioration committee (1904) and the 
interdepartmental committee on medical inspection and school feed- 
ing (1905), the education (Provision of Meals) act was passed in 
1906, investing local education authorities with power to provide 
meals to children attending the elementary schools. For this purpose 
the local education authorities adopting the act may associate with 
themselves a committee, known as the " school canteen committee," 
on which they are represented, to undertake the provision of food, 
and may furnish to such a committee the necessary equipment for 
organizing, preparing, and serving the meals. Wherever possible, 
funds other than public must be employed to defray the cost of food, 
but where voluntary agencies do not exist local education authorities 
are empowered to meet this cost out of the rates. A charge must be 
fixed for each meal, and the authorities have power to recover the 
cost of meals from parents. 

The selection of children who come under this act may be made in 
several ways. Parents may make application to the school canteen 
committee that their children should be provided with meals, or 
teachers may recommend pupils from their classes who are appar- 
ently underfed to the notice of the authority providing the meals, or 
the school medical officers may make the same recommendation as a 
result of routine or special examinations. In its further interpreta- 
tion of the act the Board of Education strongly advises the closest 
cooperation between the school medical service and the authority 
charged with carrying out the provisions of the act. It recommends 
that the school medical officer shall be allowed to nominate children 
92 



THE FEEDING OF NECESSITOUS CHILDREN. 93 

for school feeding on account of malnutrition; that he shall be con- 
sulted as to the dietary; that he shall be allowed to inspect the 
arrangements for preparing, distributing, and serving the meals; and 
that he shall be consulted in cases of doubt as to the retention of 
children on the feeding list owing to their physical condition. 1 As a 
general rule, however, children are selected on a poverty rather than 
a physical test. Thus in London meals are, with certain exceptions, 
only provided to children whose parents can not pay the full cost, 
while in Manchester free meals are provided only to those children 
whose family income falls within a certain scale. On the other hand- 
some authorities provide meals for all children who are apparently 
underfed, whether through poverty or another cause. 

The provision of meals in the London schools has been intrusted to 
the children's care committees and their local associations, which 
receive applications for meals. Arrangements have been made for 
the provision of dinner, breakfast, and milk or cod-liver oil for deli- 
cate children. The meals are prepared either by a large firm of 
caterers or are purchased from cooking centers of local schools. The 
equipment is provided by the Council and the meals are served either 
in special centers or in school halls. The supervision of the children 
at their meals is undertaken by paid and voluntary helpers, often 
including teachers, who serve the meals with the assistance, if required, 
of the monitors. The names of children are placed on the feeding 
list after applications have been considered by the care committees, 
but head teachers are empowered to send children who are appar- 
ently in need of food to the feeding centers pending the consideration 
of their cases by the care committees, and they also bring necessitous 
children to the notice of the school doctors. In all cases the care 
committees investigate the home conditions of the children and may 
bring cases of temporary distress to the attention of charitable 
agencies, and in the case of neglect may recommend the prosecution 
of parents. By these means the care committees are in a position 
to know whether the necessitous children who come to their notice 
are in fact improperly fed, suffer from want of sleep, are overworked 
out of school hours, or are living under unhealthy home conditions. 
In every case, however, an attempt must be made to recover the cost 
of the meals provided, and fixed charges have been established of 2 
cents for breakfast, 3 cents for dinner, 1.5 cents for a milk meal, and 
2 cents a week for cod-liver oil. Every case on the necessitous list is 
reviewed once a month and names are at once removed as soon as 
home circumstances improve. That the fears of those who opposed 
the introduction of the measure for the provision of meals on the 
ground that parents would be pauperized are groundless is shown by 
the fact that very few parents will allow their children* to receive the 

i Rep. of Chief Med, Of, of Bd. of Ed. for 1911, p. 285. 



94 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

benefits of the act as soon as they find that they can provide for them 
at home. Undoubtedly there are " chronic cases," but these are being 
carefully inquired into. 

The following are some of the typical menus supplied to the children 
at the feeding centers of London : 

1. Haricot bean soup. 2. Cheese and potato pie. 3. Meat pudding. 

Bread. Bread. Potatoes. 

Treacle pudding. Apple roll. Bread. 

4. Fish and potato pie. 5. Mutton stewed with haricot beans. 

Bread. Steamed potatoes. Bread. 

Baked raisin pudding. Suet pudding. 

The cost of the meals to the Council for each child, when provided 
by the caterers, is for breakfast 2.88 cents and for dinners 3.76 cents; 
for each dinner supplied by the cookery centers the cost is 3 cents. 
In 1910-11 the average weekly number of children fed was 41,672, 
to whom 203,461 meals were provided. The expenditure for the 
same year on food alone was $240,630, and the total cost of the scheme 
for providing meals was $438,180. 

In Manchester the arrangements for the provision of meals are in 
the hands of a school canteen committee. Centers have been organ- 
ized in the poorest districts, to which meals are distributed from a 
central kitchen established by the education committee and placed 
under the charge of a general superintendent. Parents may make 
applications on behalf of their children, and teachers report cases of 
ill-nourished and underfed children. The cases are examined by the 
school medical officers, and the circumstances of the parents are inves- 
tigated by the school attendance officers. For purposes of relief the 
weekly income of the family, after payment of rent, must come within 
the following scale: Five or more in the family, 60 cents per head; 
three or four in the family, 66 cents per head; one or two in the family, 
72 cents per head. Where the income exceeds this scale 2 cents is 
charged for each meal. The expenditure on food alone in 1911-12 
was $7,555, and the total cost of the scheme was $16,610. The num- 
ber of individual children fed during the year was 4,518, and 328,334 
meals were provided. A similar scheme will probably be adopted in 
in Liverpool, which at present arranges with a firm of caterers to 
supply the meals. 

The act does not permit the provision of meals at public expense on 
days on which children are not in attendance at school. In many 
towns voluntary agencies have undertaken the provision of meals to 
necessitous children during holidays. Amendments of the act to 
remove the prohibition as to holidays are at present before Parlia- 
ment and will probably be passed. 

It is difficult to estimate the effects of the provision of meals. Up 
to the present, in the few instances where the school medical officers 






THE FEEDING OF NECESSITOUS CHILDREN. 95 

are conducting observations, the physical effects, as measured by 
weight and height, are reported to be good, w tie teachers report an 
improvement in the school work of the children who are fed. On the 
mental effect there do not seem to be any reports of actual tests or 
measurements of the improvement, although something more than 
a prima facie judgment might be expected, since the act is educa- 
tional in intent. Improvement is also reported in table manners, in 
cleanliness at meals, and in the actual process of eating. These, of 
course, depend on the character of the supervision, on the appear- 
ance of the center, and on the general attention to the neatness of the 
table and the equipment. As a means for social education the pro- 
vision of properly supervised meals and menus should be highly 
effective in teaching both the children and the parents what nutri- 
tious food is and what form the proper feeding of children should 
take. Too frequently the children who appear to be suffering from 
malnutrition are really the victims of improper feeding, and it requires 
effort at first to induce these children to eat what is generally regarded 
as nutritious food. The cheap cookshops too often provide parents 
with an excuse for neglecting their duty. The feeding center, under 
suitable supervision, combined with the practical lessons in cookery, 
should in time dispel much of the ignorance prevailing on the feeding 
of children. 



Chapter XL 

THE SCHOLARSHIP SYSTEM. 

The establishment of secondary schools in England in numbers at 
all adequate to the needs of the population has been the result of 
effort stimulated by the act of 1902. Until the beginning of the 
twentieth century not only were the secondary schools few in num- 
ber, but their organization on a class basis, with different types of 
schools serving different social grades, would have precluded many 
children of the lower middle and poorer classes from enjoying the 
benefits of higher education but for the existence of scholarships. 
The educational ladder was only accessible, however, to children of 
exceptional ability from the elementary schools. Many of the 
endowed schools offered scholarships to poor children of intellectual 
ability who otherwise would have been unable to proceed to sec- 
ondary schools and beyond. In the last decade of the nineteenth 
century the existing scholarship system was supplemented by the 
addition of scholarships and exhibitions offered by local bodies with 
the aid of the Science and Art Department. But the total provision 
from the latter source did not amount to more than 5,500 scholar- 
ships. The value of scholarships of all types — in public schools, 
other secondary schools, universities, technical schools for the train- 
ing of teachers, in trade schools, evening schools, etc. — is estimated 
to be at present over $6,000,000. 

The powers granted to local education authorities by the educa- 
tion act of 1902 to incur expenses out of the rates for higher education 
led almost immediately to an increase in the number of secondary 
schools, many of them charging lower fees than previously existing 
schools, and to an extension of the scholarship system for boys and 
girls. Scholarships are, however, essentially selective in their nature 
and are intended to afford poor children of intellectual promise an 
opportunity not only of further education, but also of rising in the 
social scale. Such a system was not calculated to satisfy the ideals 
of the democratic leaders, and demands for an increase of the oppor- 
tunities for higher education have been raised. There are those who 
are dissatisfied with the educational ladder, limited to the able but 
selected few, and prefer a broad educational highway open to all who 
can avail themselves of it. But a free system of higher education 
is not likely to be introduced for many years to come; instead, a 
compromise has been effected which, while it involves the principle 
96 



THE SCHOLARSHIP SYSTEM. 97 

of selection, is not intended for the supernormal so much as the nor- 
mal pupils in the elementary schools. By the regulations of the 
Board of Education, in all secondary schools which desire to qualify 
for the Government grant, "free places must be offered at the begin- 
ning of each school year to pupils entering from public elementary 
schools * * *. The number to be offered will ordinarily be 25 
per cent of the total number of pupils admitted to the school during 
the previous year, or, in the case of a new school, at its opening, 
but this percentage may be reduced or varied by the board on suffi- 
cient grounds in the case of any particular school." For the pur- 
poses of this regulation, pupils must have attended an elementary 
school for two years before entering the secondary schools. 

The number of scholarships and free places maintained by the 
local education authorities in 1911-12 was 38,000, of which probably 
34,500 were held by pupils from elementary schools. To this num- 
ber must be added the scholarships granted by the endowed schools 
and other bodies, bringing the total number of pupils receiving free 
tuition up to 52,583, or 34.8 per cent of the total number of pupils 
in secondary schools recognized by the board, i. e., 151,045. Of 
these, 49,120 had previously attended the elementary schools. So far 
as possible the number of free places are divided equally between 
boys and girls. The provision of free places throughout the country 
varies from one free place for every 48 children in average attendance 
in the elementary schools to one place for every 170 children. For 
the administrative county of London the provision is one free place 
for every 70 children over 5 years of age in average attendance. 
If the number of scholarships and free places offered by other than 
the public authorities be taken into consideration, the number is of 
course raised. Of the children annually leaving the elementary 
schools 1 in 22 enters a secondary school, and 1 in 46 receives free 
education there. 1 

Since the introduction of the free places it is becoming more diffi- 
cult to distinguish them from scholarships, for both are intended to 
assist poor but able pupils who would otherwise not continue their 
education to enter the secondary schools. As a rule the award of 
scholarships is not limited to boys and girls who have previously 
attended an elementary school, and they may be of higher financial 
value than the free places, while a higher standard of performance 
in the examination may be required. But both scholarships and 
free places vary in character in that they may carry with them 
(i) free tuition only, (ii) free tuition, books, and in some cases, trav- 
eling expenses, (hi) a maintenance grant in addition to the last. 
Since the free places are in most cases awarded one or two years 
before the age of compulsory school attendance is reached, the bur- 

i Bd. of Ed. Rep. for Year 1911-12, pp. 3-33. 
4832°— 14 7 



98 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

den of maintenance to parents is hardly greater than if a child 
remained at the elementary school, although the cost of books and 
other incidental expenses are in some cases felt to be heavy. It is 
the extension of the period of schooling after the age of 14 which 
needs, and under many authorities finds, encouragement by the 
grant of maintenance allowances. A few of the rural districts also 
pay traveling expenses or the cost of boarding at or near a secondary 
school. A free place may be held by a pupil so long as he chooses 
to remain in the school, and exclusion is only permitted on the same 
grounds as would warrant the exclusion of a fee-paying pupil. But 
in cases where parents of limited means are only enabled to keep a 
child at school by the aid of a maintenance grant, its withdrawal on 
account of bad work or poor progress may have the same effect as 
exclusion. Scholarships, however, are usually awarded in the first 
instance for periods of three years and are subject to renewal only 
if the holder shows promise. Some authorities at the end of a three- 
year period provide for the substitution of free tuition only in place 
of a scholarship, which may carry additional emoluments, in cases 
where a pupil's work is only up to the average. In London, again, 
a scholarship holder who does not show promise of benefiting by a 
secondary education may be transferred to a school of another type, 
e. g., a trade school. 

But whatever advantages and opportunities a free place, mainte- 
nance grants, or scholarships may offer, there is a small proportion 
of the population which, owing to poverty, can not take advantage 
of the openings. It may be that the home conditions are too poor 
or that attendance at a school in a very poor district may result in 
a lower standard of attainments, but whatever the reasons the very 
poor are not found to avail themselves of the educational advantages. 
Where children from such homes have been able by their abilities to 
win scholarships, it has been found that they can not rise above their 
home surroundings, and the suggestion has been made that the local 
authority should enable them to board at a distance from their 
homes. It is probable, however, that with further experience these 
difficulties will adjust themselves. 

The scholarships and free places for entrance to an elementary 
school are awarded on the results of competitive examinations, for 
which the age limits vary from 11 to 14. In London the candidates 
for junior county scholarships must be between the ages of 11 and 
12; in Manchester the age limits for scholarships of similar grade 
are 10 and 13, a percentage of marks being added, for each month 
that a candidate is below the age of 13. It is desired that, so far as 
possible, pupils shall enter the secondary schools before they reach 
the age of 12. So far as the examination is concerned, the present 
tendency is to limit the number of subjects so far as possible. The 



THE SCHOLARSHIP SYSTEM. 99 

usual subjects are arithmetic and English (composition and gram- 
mar) ; to these geography, history, and drawing are added by some 
authorities. The examination may be conducted in writing or orally, 
or both. The limitation of the subjects and the addition of an oral 
test are intended to eliminate any advantage which might be obtained 
by special preparation, and accordingly to equalize the chances. 
Very few elementary schools provide special preparation other than 
that of the ordinary curriculum to scholarship candidates; where 
preparation is given it takes the form of a little home work in arith- 
metic or English. Instances of special scholarship classes, receiving 
instruction in algebra and French in addition to the ordinary subjects, 
are to be found, but are rare. But there are very few schools where 
the bright and promising children are not watched with the definite 
intention that they shall proceed to secondary schools with the aid 
of the scholarship or free place (see p. 97), while for their encourage- 
ment honor boards on which scholastic distinctions are recorded are 
placed in prominent position. 

Since scholarships are intended to enable the children of limited 
means to secure the opportunities offered for higher education, most 
of the local authorities have established systems of scholarships to 
assist the ablest boys and girls to advance through the secondary 
schools to the universities. As the cost of education increases in 
proportion to its scope, so does the value of the scholarships rise in the 
later years of the school career and the university, and the fewer 
they become in number. Hence the scholarship system selects an 
intellectual elite which helps to recruit the professional classes and 
indirectly promotes an upward social movement. The scholarships 
and exhibitions offered by the universities and other institutions of 
higher learning have been supplemented by the efforts of the local 
education authorities. 

Up to this point only those scholarships and free places which lead 
to the secondary schools and offer opportunities for higher education 
have been dealt with. But the increasing variation in educational 
demands and the differentiation of institutions have led to the estab- 
lishment of scholarships and exhibitions to these. The local educa- 
tion authorities also took over the system of scholarships to technical 
and art schools, which had been introduced under the influence of the 
Science and Art Department. Thus the provision of scholarships, 
while not so great in number or even in value as those leading to the 
secondary schools and universities, now extends to the recently 
established central schools (see Ch. XVI), to trade schools, to evening 
schools, to schools for domestic economy, and to the technical and 
art schools. 

The London system offers the following opportunities for proceed- 
ing to the secondary schools and universities to the boys and girls of 
the elementary schools. The maintenance grants which accompany 



100 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

the scholarships vary according to the incomes of the parents, the 
maximum being as a rule given to the children of parents whose 
income does not exceed $800 a year. About 1,700 junior county 
scholarships are offered annually to boys and girls of the elementary 
school class between the ages of 11 and 12, and carry with them free 
tuition in a secondary school for five years and maintenance grants 
of $30 a year for the first three years and $75 a year for the last two 
years. For scholars who fail to obtain one of these scholarships, but 
hold free places in a secondary school and are between the ages of 
13 and 14, 300 supplementary junior county scholarships, available 
with maintenance grants for three years, are offered. There are, in 
addition, about 8,800 free places in the numerous secondary schools 
of the London area. To enable the better scholars to continue their 
education until the end of the school year in which they are 18 years 
of age, 300 intermediate county scholarships, available for three years 
with maintenance grants of $100 for each of the first two years and 
$125 for the third year, are awarded to scholars already in the 
secondary schools between the ages of 16 and 17. The culminating 
point of this scholastic career is marked by the offer of 100 senior 
county scholarships with adequate maintenance grants to enable the 
highly selected group of scholars to proceed to the universities. A 
number of free places at the Imperial College of Science and Tech- 
nology are also awarded to scholars at the end of their school careers. 

These scholarships are at once the most numerous and the most 
valuable in the London system. Provision is made, however, to 
assist young people who by choice or native endowment are unable 
to profit by a secondary school education. There are thus the 
numerous free places and maintenance grants in the central schools 
(see Ch. XVI). To promote special preparation for the trades, 166 
scholarships for boys and 250 scholarships for girls between the ages, 
approximately, of 13 to 16 are awarded annually and carry free 
tuition with maintenance grants in a trade school. The 12 half- 
time trade scholarships are intended to offer an opportunity of com- 
bining apprenticeship in certain trades with attendance at a trade 
school. For girls there are 500 junior domestic scholarships 
which carry with them one year's training in domestic subjects 
and a small maintenance grant, while an opportunity of attend- 
ing a 12 weeks' course in cookery is offered by the 54 cookery schol- 
arships for domestic servants. 

For adults who have already entered on their careers the Council 
offers opportunities for further study in science or art by means of 
scholarships and exhibitions. The scholarships are granted to those 
who are willing to give their whole time to the study of some branch 
of science or art bearing upon their work. Maintenance grants up to 
the value of $250 are paid in connection with these scholarships. The 






THE SCHOLARSHIP SYSTEM. 101 

exhibitions are intended to enable artisans to attend evening classes 
in subjects bearing on their trades. Finally, the scholarships to 
enable the most capable among the blind, deaf, and crippled scholars 
between the ages of 15 and 17 to continue their education deserve 
mention. In this list no reference has been made to the scholarships 
which have been placed at the disposal of the Council by individuals 
and corporations, nor to the scholarships and bursaries to secure a 
supply of teachers, to assist teachers in training, and to encourage 
the further training of teachers in service. 

The system of scholarships and exhibitions under the Manchester 
Education Committee, while necessarily less ambitious than the 
London scheme, more nearly indicates the general practice of the 
larger cities of the country, including Liverpool. In connection with 
the central schools there are 150 free admissions and 160 bursaries 
(see p. 129) . The free admissions to the three secondary schools under 
the control of the education committee are awarded in accordance 
with the regulations of the Board of Education, but there are in 
addition 50 bursaries or maintenance grants in sums varying for each 
of the five years for which they are awarded, to enable those who 
otherwise could not remain to continue at the secondary schools. 
Of a higher value and requiring a higher standard of attainments than 
the free admissions are the 20 junior secondary school scholarships 
for boys and girls under 13. These scholarships carry with them a 
monetary reward and are tenable at any of the secondary schools of 
the city, whether municipal or not. Ten senior secondary school 
scholarships are awarded to assist scholars over the age of 15 to con- 
tinue at a secondary school for two years longer. To assist the ablest 
of the boys and girls to proceed from the secondary schools to the 
school of technology of the city or to the universities, 15 scholarships 
are awarded to be held at the former institution and 8 at the latter, 
each of the annual value of $300 and tenable for three years. As in 
London, a number of scholarships for short courses in domestic sub- 
jects is offered to girls. For adult students at least 200 exhibitions 
are offered annually giving free education and the necessary books 
at the advanced evening courses in the different schools. Here 
again no mention is made of the numerous scholarships established 
by private individuals and placed at the disposal of the committee, 
nor to the awards made to teachers in service and to intending 
teachers. 

The scholarship system is effective in selecting out those of the 
greatest intellectual ability who are able to profit by the oppor- 
tunities opened up before them. There is, however, a feeling that 
there are too many cases where a scholarship has resulted in making 
a second-rate clerk of a boy who might have become a first-class 
artisan. There is also a certain hesitancy among persons of limited 



102 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

means in accepting scholarships or free places for their children on 
the ground that, whatever the educational advantages, the ultimate 
opportunities are not such as warrant a sacrifice on their part. As 
compared with a free system of higher education, the scholarship 
system is perhaps not so wasteful, for those who wish to see whether 
a secondary school will suit them must pay for the privilege. Hence 
the majority of the eliminations will be from the fee-paying class, 
although they also receive State and local support for their education 
in so far as the fees hardly cover as much as half the cost of main- 
tenance of the secondary schools. But the scholarship holders, 
selected as they are on an intellectual basis, are more likely to make 
the best of their opportunity than fee-paying boys, or, under a free 
system, than the general run of pupils who claim entrance to the 
secondary schools as a right. 



Chapter XII. 

OPEN-AIR SCHOOLS AND CLASSES. 

The rapidly extending recognition that it falls within the duty of 
educational authorities to provide not only for the mental growth 
of the nation's young but also for an environment suited to their 
physical needs, has led to the establishment of facilities of different 
lands, not the least interesting of which are the open-air schools. 
The number of these schools in various forms has been increasing 
since 1899, when local educational authorities were empowered, 
under the elementary education (Defective and Epileptic Children) 
act to make special provisions for the education of physically defec- 
tive (crippled, tuberculous, anemic, etc.) and mentally defective 
children. Nine such schools had been established in England and 
were maintained under the act in 1911-12. The open-air schools are 
intended for those children who "by reason of physical defect are 
incapable of receiving proper benefit from instruction in the ordinary 
public elementary schools." These children include those who are 
generally debilitated or suffering from malnutrition, anemia, glan- 
dular enlargements, bronchial troubles, incipient tuberculosis, heart 
disease, chorea, and nervousness, or are recovering from some opera- 
tion. Under the provisions of the act such children must be specially 
selected by the school medical officer, and must be taught in small 
classes with short hours of instruction, while the curriculum must 
include manual training. These schools may be kept open during 
the ordinary school holidays. 

The first open-air school was opened in London as an experiment 
during the summer of 1907 and proved so successful that in the 
following summer three schools were opened. Since 1911 the edu- 
cation committee has maintained two permanent schools, Shooters 
Hill School, Woolwich, and Birley House School, Dulwich, and has 
kept these open throughout the year. They have accommodation, 
respectively, for 100 and 90 children, boys and girls. Pupils who 
are considered physically defective as indicated above are nominated 
by their teachers and are further selected by the school medical officer. 
Each school draws children from a distance of about 5 miles, and 
the education committee pays the tram fares where necessary. A 
fee of 60 cents a week is charged, but may be reduced or remitted 
entirely in cases of poverty. The staff of each school includes a 
nurse and cook. The pupils receive three meals a day, breakfast, 
dinner, and tea, and, if necessary, milk and cod-liver oil. After the 
midday dinner all pupils must sleep for about two hours. A medical 

103 



104 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

examination takes place every fortnight, and weight and height 
records are carefully kept. It has been found that, while the weight 
records of each child may show variation and the increase may not be 
consistently maintained, the improvement in the haemoglobin con- 
tent of the blood is always well marked. Special clothes are not 
provided, but each child is furnished -with an army blanket and at 
Birley House School with a loose coat made out of army blankets 
by the girls. Clogs are supplied in both schools by voluntary agen- 
cies. Each child remains at the open-air school for one year as a 
rule and then returns to its place in the ordinary elementary school. 

The Shooters Hill School is situated on a well-wooded estate on 
an eminence which commands a fine view for many miles around. 
The Birley House School is located in a private house with a large 
garden. The chief building in each case is a Doecker building. 
Each building is 50 feet long by 15 feet broad and about 9 feet in 
height, and is open on one side only, a feature which somewhat 
detracts from the usefulness of the buildings when the wind happens 
to be in the direction of the exposed side. To remedy this defect an 
additional classroom has been erected by the headmaster and the 
boys at the Birley House School, which consists of wooden frames 
covered with canvas, which can easily be removed and replaced to 
afford protection from the wind. The floors of the buildings are of 
wood and are raised from the ground on wooden blocks. In addi- 
tion to the central building there are teachers' rooms, tool houses, 
pet houses, and offices. The classrooms are, however, intended to 
serve mainly as a protection in rainy or severe weather, and the 
instruction is, so far as possible, given in the open. To prevent the 
children's feet coming into contact with the damp ground the desks 
and seats rest on wooden slats partly provided by the council and 
partly made by the boys. The schools are equipped with dual 
desks and seats, but for reading or oral work the deck chairs, intended 
for the afternoon sleep, are used. The equipment of the Shooters 
Hill School is defective in this respect, that there is no supply of 
water; this prevents the provision of a kitchen and necessitates a 
walk of several minutes to a neighboring school for meals and wash- 
ing. At Birley House the residence is only used for purposes of 
storage, cooking, bathing, and teachers' rooms. 

If the arrangements for the physical welfare of the children fulfill 
successfully the aims which prompted the establishment of this 
type of school, the provision for their education is no less interesting. 
The two schools are fortunately under the charge of teachers of 
broad educational outlook, who have been able to make the most of 
the opportunity afforded to them. While the reports on the pupils 
returned to the ordinary elementary schools bear universal testimony 
to their quicker response, greater keenness, and higher mental 
energy, this improvement must be set down as much to the educa- 



BUREAU OF EDUCATION 



BULLETIN, 1913, NO. 57 PLATE 9 




A. SHOOTERS HILL OPEN-AIR SCHOOL— THE SCHOOLHOUSE. 




B. SHOOTERS HILL OPEN-AIR SCHOOL-GARDENING. 



BUREAU OF EDUCATION 



BULLETIN, 1913, NO. 57 PLATE 10 




A. SHOOTERS HILL OPEN-AIR SCHOOL— THE PET HOUSE. 




B. SHOOTERS HILL OPEN-AIR SCHOOL-FENCING SCHOOL GARDEN. 



0PEX-AIR SCHOOLS AND CLASSES. 105 

tional experiments earned on at the two sehools as to the increased 
physical fitness of the scholars. Relieved as they were from the 
necessity of following the scheme of work of the ordinary elementary 
school, both Mr. Turner, of the Shooters Hill School, and Mr. Green, 
of the Birley House School, turned their attention to the adaptation 
of the environment to the needs of the school. It must be borne in 
mind that in both cases there is considerable difficulty in grading 
and classifying pupils of different attainments drawn from different 
schools. At Shooters Hill School the pupils are arranged in four 
classes and at Birley House School in three. The difficulty is greatest 
in the case of the boys and girls near the limit of the elementary 
school age. 

At the Shooters Hill School the greater part of the curriculum 
consists of manual work in some form or other, nature study, and 
gardening. In the manual work, in the lighter forms of which the 
girls also take part, the pupils not only have the ordinary instruction 
at the bench, both in wood and light metal, but they make parts of 
the school equipment, as the need arises. Thus the fencing around 
the garden was clone wholly by the boys, who performed all the 
processes of sharpening the stakes, hammering them into the ground, 
and binding them with metal ribbon. The tool houses, rabbit 
hutches, pet houses, a waterproof " lean-to" to serve as a cloak- 
room, the wooden slats for footrests, and the boarding up of the lower 
part of the exposed side of the schoolroom as a protection against 
wind and rain w r ere included in the manual work of the boys. In 
connection with this work the practical arithmetic and the drawing 
of rough .sketches were taken. For nature study the environment 
offers excellent opportunities, to which must be added the practical 
gardening. The garden was reclaimed originally by the scholars and 
is used for growing flowers and vegetables. The garden paths and 
draining system were made by the boys, who also fitted up a small 
ornamental pond and sundial. The girls, in addition to such assist- 
ance as they give in the other manual work, also do needlework. 
The geography scheme is based largely on the advantage which the 
school has in its position. The River Thames, with its shipping and 
docks, is in sight for several miles of its course, while the location of 
the school estate on an eminence with a wide prospect makes physical 
geography a living thing to the scholars ; large relief maps are made 
in the neighboring clay and soil. In the same way the history 
lessons find a starting point in the places of historical interest almost 
within sight and certainly within easy reach of the school, and these 
are supplemented by the construction of castles and model villages. 
For the drawing and brushw^ork there is no lack of subjects in the 
trees and flowers around the school. For the rest instruction in 
arithmetic, reading, poetry, and singing are not neglected. On 
Saturday afternoon pupils may return at their option for games. 



106 



ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 



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OPEN-AIR SCHOOLS AND CLASSES. 107 

In the summer a few of the boys spend the nights in the open 
around the school, but the absence of facilities for washing render this 
arrangement inconvenient. At the end of the year pupils return to 
their own schools. At first the teachers in these schools were some- 
what sceptical about the educational value of the work done at the 
open-air school, and it was felt by some that the year spent there 
was practically wasted. Such criticism is, however, gradually dis- 
appearing, as it is realized that the pupils from the open-air schools 
can more than hold their own in their grip of the work, in habits of 
study, and in general mental keenness and alertness. 

At the Birley House School Mr. Green, the headmaster, has organ- 
ized the curriculum on a colonization scheme. Various minerals — 
coal, iron ore, copper ore, lead ore, and gold quartz — are buried in 
different parts of the garden, and the children go out to prospect for 
these. The finders become captains of industry. To work the mines 
the captains of industry engage laborers at the labor exchange, which 
is managed by one of the pupils, or receive applications for work. 
Boring is then proceeded with, shafts are sunk, winding apparatus is 
constructed, and the mineral is brought to the surface. Here arises 
the need of coal, and a system of transportation in the form of a minia- 
ture railway is organized, furnaces are set up, factories are planned, 
the possible markets for the products are considered, and the impor- 
tance of a merchant service is recognized. So much for the industrial 
side of the colonization plan. Side by side with this the agricultural 
plans are developed. A portion of the garden is cleared and a minia- 
ture farm of six fields is prepared, and the different modes of fencing 
are applied to these fields. The ground is plowed and crops are 
sown in rotation, including wheat, potatoes, turnips, barley, and oats, 
clover, and cabbages. A thatched log hut is built and furnished to 
serve as a homestead for the farmers, and the necessary outhouses — 
barn, stable, wagon shed, pigsty, henroost, and dog kennel — are built 
around it. The nature study scheme is correlated throughout with 
the work done on the farm and with the gardening operations. The 
general manual work is as varied as the activities which stimulate it. 
A rabbit warren, an aviary, insect cases, garden frames, cases for the 
weather instruments, etc., constitute the work in wood. Other media, 
involving puddling clay, making of concrete, and the mixing of cement, 
are employed in constructing a pond and making the garden and 
agricultural rollers on the basis of a drainpipe. Sufficient scope is 
afforded in this scheme for the work in practical arithmetic in the 
measurement of lengths and distances, in estimating costs and quan- 
tities, in finding heights by means of simple measuring instruments, 
in making the graphical records of rainfall, barometer, thermometer, 
sunshine, etc., and in working out the other calculations required in 
connection with the garden and manual work. Provision is made 



108 ELEMENTAKY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

in the time-table for the other subjects of the curriculum, i. e. ; 
geography, history, reading, composition, drawing, and singing. 

Arrangements have been made for removing the Birley House 
School to a larger and more suitable site and for the opening of a 
third school. The cost of maintaining these schools is about $110 
per pupil per year, as against a cost of about $35 per pupil per year 
in the ordinary elementary schools. To this sum the Government, 
under the elementary education (Defective and Epileptic Children) 
act, gives a grant of about $25 per pupil. The expense of this system 
necessarily sets a limit to its extension and to the type of pupil who 
can be accommodated. While there are always a number of children 
who require the special treatment that can only be provided at an 
open-air school, there are still large numbers of delicate children in 
the ordinary elementary schools who can profit by open-air treat- 
ment. For these there have been established by many local authori- 
ties open-air classes, conducted either in specially constructed class- 
rooms, as in Carlisle and Carnarvonshire, or in playgrounds and parks. 
The latter system has been most widely developed in London. About 
80 classes of delicate children have been organized, and with three 
exceptions are held in school playgrounds ; the remaining three classes 
are taken to parks, and negotiations are on foot between the educa- 
tion committee and the parks and open spaces committee with a 
view to an extension of these facilities. The holding of classes in 
playgrounds is not wholly free from objections, mainly on account of 
the dust, the inadequate protection from the sun and the wind, the 
difficulty of holding the children's attention, and the disturbance 
caused by passers-by. There is evidence on the other side, however, 
that the children "are fresher, brighter, less subject to fatigue toward 
the end of the school session, suffer less from colds and minor ail- 
ments, necessitating absence from school; that there is less dullness 
and sleepiness, and that the activity, carriage, and appearance of 
the children have improved." 1 The parents also mention the fact 
that the children eat and sleep better. The open-air classes are 
formed in April and are conducted in the open until October. The 
subjects for which classes are held out of doors consist as a rule of 
practical arithmetic and mensuration, physical geography, and nature 
study, together with visits to places of educational interest. The 
evidence of the reports on the mental progress of the children in the 
open-air classes is that they "are more alert, and grip their work 
better; they show more intelligence and zest in setting about their 
work; there is more concentration; and the greatest interest in out- 
door practical work is shown. There is also a more natural form of 
discipline, improvement in temper and character, less irritability, 
more independence, resourcefulness, and reliability." 2 

i L. C. C. An. Rep., 1911, Vol. IV, p. 16. 
2 Loc. cit. 



OPEN-AIR SCHOOLS AND CLASSES. 109 

The system is developing in other cities, and mention may be made 
of the work along these lines in Leicester, Sheffield, Blackburn, and 
Halifax. The extension of open-air instruction to other than sub- 
normal children is also treated in connection with the discussion of 
the use of playgrounds, while the school journey or excursion may 
also be regarded as part of the provision for outdoor work, both for 
normal and delicate children. 

(i) COUNTRY HOLIDAY SCHOOLS. 

A further development of the open-air classes has been the estab- 
lishment of country schools for town children. Since the law does 
not sanction the expenditure of rate money on these schools, they 
have been established and maintained by voluntary contributions. 
The Board of Education, however, recognizes the attendance of chil- 
dren at country holiday schools for purposes of the education grant. 
A school of this type was established for Manchester children in 1904 
by voluntary effort at Knolls Green, Mobberley, at a distance of 10 
miles from the city. The accommodation at first was limited to 128 
children, but since 1907, when the committee of the country school 
transferred the school to the Manchester education committee, the 
accommodation has been extended by the erection of a new dormi- 
tory with 380 beds. The buildings — which include the dormitory, 
a dining room, and a schoolroom — and spray baths and playing fields 
have been provided by voluntary contributions, of which the Man- 
chester teachers helped to raise a large part by means of bazaars, 
concerts, and parties. With the increase in the accommodation, the 
cost of maintenance, including the railway fare, can be met by a 
charge of $1.75 for each child for the two weeks' holiday. The school 
is open to any child over 7 years of age attending the public elemen- 
tary schools of Manchester whose parents make due application and 
pay the sum charged in advance. The school is intended for normal 
children only, and each child is medically examined before admission. 
The holiday extends over two weeks. Not less than 40 children are 
taken from each school under the charge of one of their teachers. 
The usual school subjects are taken in the forenoons, and the after- 
noons are devoted to nature study, object lessons in the open, to 
physical exercises, and excursions. Four meals — breakfast, dinner, 
tea, and supper — are provided. The following table represents the 
program for each day: 

A.M.: P.M.: 

6.45. Rise. 2-4.30. In schoolroom or open air. 

8.00. Breakfast. 4.30. Tea (later if there is an excur- 

9-12. In schoolroom or open air. sion). 

12.00. Dinner. 8.00. Supper. 

8.30. Bed. 

9.00. Lights out. 



110 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

The session extends from April to October, and about 3,000 chil- 
dren are each year enabled to enjoy the benefit of a fortnight's stay 
in the country. 

A country school for physically defective children is maintained by 
the Liverpool education committee at the Bowring House, Roby. 
The school is open for five months during the summer, and children 
from the special schools are sent out in parties of 50 for a stay of 
five weeks. The work is carried on in conjunction with the Invalid 
Children's Association. 

(2) HOLIDAYS FOR POOR CHILDREN. 

Numerous voluntary associations exist for the purpose of enabling 
the poorer children in elementary schools to leave the towns for a 
brief holiday in the summer. The best known of these are the Fresh 
Air Fund and the Children's Country Holidays Fund. The former, 
which is worked in cooperation by the Ragged School Union and the 
proprietors of a large publishing house, raises funds for children in 
towns with a population of over 90,000 and takes parties into the 
country or to the seaside for a day or longer periods. The estimated 
cost per child is 18 cents per day and $2.50 for a fortnight. The 
Country Holidays "Fund provides a fortnight's holiday for poor chil- 
dren. Local committees receive applications from parents, assess 
the amount which they can contribute toward the cost, and collect 
the sums in installments, if necessary. Correspondents in the coun- 
try make arrangements for boarding out the children at a cost of $2.50 
for two weeks, while the railway companies offer reductions in the 
fares. It is the aim of those who administer the fund, which has been 
in existence more than 25 years, that the children shall benefit not 
only physically but also educationally by their holiday. In 1910 as 
many as 43,000 children in London alone were enabled to take advan- 
tage of the fund. 




Chapter XIII. 

EXTRA-SCHOOL ACTIVITIES. 

(i) VACATION SCHOOLS. 

The vacation school movement is practically limited to London. 
Until very recently local education authorities were not permitted to 
incur expenditure on vacation schools, play centers, or other activi- 
ties of the same character out of school hours or during the holidays. 
But there was nothing to prevent such work being conducted by 
voluntary bodies. The English vacation school movement owes its 
origin to Mrs. Humphry Ward, who opened such a school in 1902 at 
the Passmore Edwards Settlement in London. The movement was 
slowly extended each summer, the Council granting the use of 
school premises, but incurring no financial responsibility. In 1907 
local education authorities were given power under the education 
(Administrative Provisions) act, section 13 (1), u to provide, for 
children attending a public elementary school, vacation schools, 
vacation classes, play centers, or other means of recreation during 
their holidays or at such other times as the local education authority 
may prescribe, etc." Immediate use was not made of the power 
granted by this act, and in London the vacation schools continued 
under the charge of Mrs. Ward and the evening play centers com- 
mittee, whose efforts were supplemented by the Robert Browning 
Settlement. In 1910 the Council organized two vacation schools in 
addition to the four conducted by the voluntary associations. It 
was not, however, until the summer of 1911 that the Council embarked 
on an experiment with a new type of vacation school. Two schools, 
Battersea Park Road and Lauriston Road, were selected and organ- 
ized with three departments (boys, girls, and junior mixed), each 
under the charge of a head teacher and assistants. The poorest 
children of the districts round the school, who were underfed, physi- 
cally weak, backward, or under the influence of evil surroundings, 
were selected, the age limits being fixed at 6 and 12. Each school was 
open for a month, and by admitting an entirely new batch of children 
at the end of the first fortnight 2,424 children were enrolled. Both 
schools possessed the advantage of being in the neighborhood of 
parks, which were utilized for open-air work, games, and swimming. 
Through the aid of volunteer agencies, meals were provided to the 
necessitous children. The chief portion of the time was given to 
manual occupations and games. Of the school subjects, reading, 

111 



112 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

singing, and nature study received some attention, and for the older 
children excursions and visits to places of interest were arranged. 
The manual occupations of each department showed considerable 
variety. The boys engaged in strip woodwork, cobbling, plasticene, 
rug and kite making, and raffia work. For the girls doll dressing and 
toy making were the chief occupations, while the junior children 
engaged in paper cutting and modeling, knitting, clay modeling, 
painting, drawing, and raffia work. The results of the experiment 
are reported to have been highly satisfactory from the physical, 
educational, and moral points of view. There was an improvement 
in physical condition owing to the healthy surroundings and the open 
air; there was an increase in manual dexterity and a more intelligent 
appreciation of the surroundings ; while the freer - discipline and the 
introduction of group work conduced to the development of greater 
self-reliance. The most important result probably was that the vaca- 
tion schools taught the children how to play and amuse themselves 
instead of leading the idle and aimless existence usual in holiday 
periods. 

The cost of maintaining a vacation school of this type was found 
to be between $750 and $800 during the month that it was kept open. 
This sum included the payment of substitute teachers to take the 
place of those who had befn engaged in the vacation schools when 
they took their postponed holiday from their ordinary school duties. 
One rearrangement suggested by the experiment for future years 
was the advisability of keeping children in touch with the vacation 
schools during the whole of the month by admitting one section for 
morning and the other for afternoon sessions. Since the success of 
the schools opened in 1911 was so marked, it was proposed to open 
40 schools to accommodate about 24,000 children during the summer 
holidays of 1912. This ambitious scheme was not carried out, but 
two schools were established, and 2,200 children were admitted on 
the half-time system throughout the month. 

As an alternative to the organized vacation schools, which are 
considered to be too expensive and too small for the number of poor 
children who might make use of them, there have been established 
organized vacation playgrounds, for which there were 26 centers in 
the summer holidays of 1911, conducted by the Evening Play Centers 
Committee. The Council placed 50 playgrounds, connected with 26 
schools, at the disposal of the committee. Each playground is tinder 
the charge of a superintendent, usually a teacher or teacher in training, 
assisted by boy and girl monitors. The playgrounds are open five 
days a week, from 10.30 to 12, from 2.30 to 4.30, and from 5.30 to 
7 p. m. They are used by children of the district without any rules 
of admission or selection beyond good behavior. No curriculum or 
time-table is in force; the children merely come to play, and the 



EXTRA-SCHOOL ACTIVITIES. 113 

educational and other results are such as may be expected from 
orderly games and the personal influence of the superintendent, 
Besides football, cricket, and other ball games, opportunities are 
afforded for quieter forms of relaxation, such as drawing, painting, 
crayon work, stenciling, needlework, basket making, etc. The 
organized playground is naturally open to far more children than the 
vacation schools could reach, except at enormous expense. The 
attendances at the 2,790 sessions in 1911 were 424,000. The cost of 
maintaining an organized playground for four weeks is about $200. l 
The playgrounds, well supervised, have advantages which are not 
possessed by the vacation schools; they are within easy reach of the 
children; they are open to all children without selection; they help 
to remove large numbers of children from the streets in the most 
congested parts; they teach the children how to play. On the other 
hand, they have not the advantages of the vacation schools in being 
in a selected environment. The educational influences of the vaca- 
tion schools are direct and intensive, while the influences of the 
playgrounds are indirect and unorganized. The vacation schools, 
again, are intended to be remedial and deal with children who are 
physically, morally, or intellectually subnormal; the playgrounds 
afford a normal outlet for as many normal children as possible. It 
seems very probable, if only on the ground of expense, that the 
future will see a- more rapid development of organized playgrounds, 
extended, it is to be hoped, to open spaces and parks. 

In Manchester the education committee has for several years 
allowed the school playgrounds to remain open between May and 
September from 4.30 p. m. until dusk on every week day except 
Saturday, when they are open the whole day until dusk. There is, 
however, no supervision of the children except in a general way by 
the school keepers. The city also affords facilities to enable children 
from the poorer districts to travel at reduced fares by the municipal 
trams to the large open spaces and parks. The country holiday 
home for children of the Manchester elementary schools is referred 
to elsewhere (see p. 109). 

(2) THE SCHOOL AS A SOCIAL CENTER. 

The extended use of school buildings for other than purposes of 
education in the technical sense is hardly known in England. Schools 
may by special permission be utilized occasionally for meetings or 
concerts, or for social purposes in connection with the evening classes, 
but with the exceptions about to be indicated they have not become 
social centers. As with vacation schools and organized playgrounds, 
London is also the pioneer in allowing the use of schools for purposes of 

i In 1912 the Council itself conducted 40 centers for four weeks, with 4,560 sessions and 800,000 attendances. 
4832°— 14 8 



114 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

recreation for children of the elementary school age. But the work 
is conducted by voluntary agencies. The education (Administrative 
Provisions) act of 1907, section 13 (1) (seep. Ill), has given local 
education authorities power to make further use of schoolhouses for 
recreational purposes for children, but this power does not yet appear 
to have been exercised. London is provided with recreation centers 
in connection with elementary schools mainly by two voluntary 
organizations, the Evening Play Centers Committee and the Children's 
Happy Evenings Associations, which also has branches in several of 
the provincial towns, e. g., in Manchester and Liverpool. 

The Evening Play Centers Committee was organized in 1904 as a 
result of the success during a period of 7 years of a play center or 
children's recreation school in connection with the Passmore Edwards 
Settlement. In 1912 17 evening play centers were established in 
schools in *the poorer districts of London. The centers are open to 
boys and girls between 5 and 14 on five evenings during the week 
from 5.30 to 7.30 and on Saturday mornings from 10.30 to 12. The 
centers remain open from September to July, the schools being used 
from October to Easter and the playgrounds for the rest of the time. 
Each child is allowed to attend for two sessions a week; but children 
from neglected homes, or those whose parents are out at work, may 
attend every evening. Provision is made at each center for various 
occupations, mainly manual. 

The large halls are given up to gymnastics or organized' games for. 
boys, singing games, musical drill, or dancing (folk songs and folk 
dances) for girls, and games for the younger children. In the class- 
rooms the children may spend their time on painting, modeling, 
needlework, basketmaking, cobbling, fretwork, knitting, scrapbooks, 
rugmaking, raffia work, quiet games, toys, story books, etc. But the 
occupation most in favor with the bigger boys is cobbling, of which 
practical use is made in mending shoes for themselves or their 
younger brothers and sisters. Needlework is as popular with the 
girls, who are taught to make their own blouses or make dresses for 
dolls. This useful art is also taught to boys, who apply it practically 
to patches and buttons. The centers are under the charge of paid 
superintendents, who are assisted by paid and voluntary helpers. 

The Children's Happy Evenings Association was organized in 1890 
to provide recreative evenings in schools. The work is of same type 
as that of the evening play centers, except that admission depends 
usually on the presentation of a ticket of punctuality from the head 
teacher of the school attended by the child. The work is conducted 
entirely by voluntary helpers. Happy evenings are held in connec- 
tion with the selected schools on one or two evenings a week from 
5.30 to 7.30. The occupations, which are preceded by a march 



EXTRA-SCHOOL ACTIVITIES. 115 

round the hall, include painting, toy making, cardboard modeling, 
needlework, quiet games, stories, old English dances and songs, and 
boxing (for the boys) . In 191 1 happy evenings were provided weekly 
to 35,000 children in 176 schools. The association also has affiliated 
branches in Liverpool and Manchester. 

In addition to these two associations work of a similar character 
was done in London by 14 other bodies. The Council assists in the 
provision of evening recreation centers by an expenditure of nearly 
$10,000. There is undoubtedly a great deal of room for the extension 
of the system of organized play centers, not only during the holidays, 
although the need may be greatest then, but also throughout the rest 
of the year when schools and playgrounds remain deserted and unused 
out of the regular school hours. 

But such work is almost entirely philanthropic in character, and as 
such is confined to the poorer classes. The movement does not 
imply a recognition of the possibilities of a wider use of the school 
plant for the social interests of the community. For the adult the 
school only offers the ordinary evening classes, with social clubs organ- 
ized here and there in connection with them; public lectures, reading 
rooms, clubs, and social rooms are provided elsewhere and mainly by 
voluntary associations. The provision of public lectures in schools 
on so extensive a scale as that of New York or the use of the schools 
for social purposes as in Rochester is practically unknown. Nor is it 
likely that such an extension of the use of schoolhouses will take 
place in the near future, for the cost of education has been increasing 
too rapidly in the last few years and will certainly show no abatement 
for many years to come. Until local education authorities can turn 
their attention to throwing open their schoolhouses for social pur- 
poses the need will have to be met by the clubs and other agencies 
which exist through the generosity of private citizens. 



Chapter XIV. 

DAY INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS. 

For the purpose of dealing with children who come under the 
notice of the education or police authorities as cases under the 
children act of 1908, power has been given to local authorities to 
provide for the detention of such cases in industrial schools under 
an order of the court. The act is intended for the protection of 
children and their rescue from harmful environment. The follow- 
ing classes of children may be committed to industrial schools: 
Those found begging, wandering, destitute, and not under proper 
guardianship; those living with evil associates or with criminal, 
drunken, or neglectful parents; those beyond the control of their 
parents or guardians; children under 12 and charged with a crimi- 
nal offense or contravening local by-laws on street trading. Local 
education authorities are empowered to have a child who is a per- 
sistent truant committed to an industrial school under an attend- 
ance order made under the elementary education act of 1876. In 
exceptional cases, where parents, e. g., widows or widowers, are 
employed throughout the day, children may be received as voluntary 
scholars in day industrial schools on payment of a contribution to 
cover the cost of food. The parents of all children committed to the 
industrial schools are required, if possible, to contribute toward their 
maintenance. The charge in London for children in day industrial 
schools is 50 cents a week, and in residential schools about $2 a week. 

The industrial schools, which may be day or residential, must be 
certified by the Secretary of State and are under the inspection of 
his department, the Home Office, which corresponds to the Depart- 
ment of the Interior, and are in no way under the control of the 
Board of Education. The industrial schools are defined as schools 
"for the industrial training of children, in which children are lodged, 
clothed, and fed as well as taught." Many local education authori- 
ties have established schools of both types. London has 8 residen- 
tial schools, accommodating 800 children, and 1 day school for 200 
children; Liverpool has 5 day industrial schools with accommoda- 
tion for about 1,100 children; Manchester has only 1 day school, 
accommodating 300 children. Arrangements are in every case made 
for the reception of children beyond the number provided for in 
schools maintained elsewhere and certified by the Secretary of State. 
Here only the day industrial schools, since these are the schools 
with which the local education authorities are more nearly con- 
cerned, will be dealt with. 

The children committed to the day industrial schools must attend 
for the whole day and are given three meals during that period; 
116 



DAY INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS. 117 

arrangements are provided for regular washing and bathing and 
cleansing the clothes. In the evening the children return to their 
homes, only to be exposed to those dangers from which the schools 
are intended to save them. They are subject to the usual medical 
supervision provided for the ordinary schools, and in Liverpool a 
qualified dentist has been appointed to care for the teeth of the day 
industrial scholars. The work of the day is divided between the 
ordinary elementary school work and industrial training. Although 
it is a condition of the parliamentary grant to the day industrial 
schools that "the education given shall be on such a level of effi- 
ciency as would enable the school, if a public elementary school, to 
obtain a parliamentary grant," the ordinary education in these 
schools does not reach the standard to be found in the ordinary 
elementary school. The classes are not well graded; the same room 
is frequently shared by several classes; the equipment is poor as a 
rule; and the methods and instruction several years behind that of 
the ordinary elementary school. It is true, of course, that the 
children committed to these schools are backward, partly on account 
of their antecedents, partly by reason of their environment, but there 
is room for improvement in the attempts made to educate them, 
for these schools are particularly well situated to exercise a perma- 
nent and lasting influence on their pupils. The industrial training, 
on the other hand, in which these schools were pioneers, is not only 
as good as that given in the ordinary schools but is more varied 
and receives more emphasis for its educational value. The work of 
the boys includes woodwork, shoemaking and repairing, tailoring, 
and such assistance as they can give with the domestic work of the 
school. The girls are trained entirely in housework, including laun- 
dry and needlework. 

The cost of maintaining a child in a day industrial school is high. 
In Liverpool the per capita cost in 1911 was $70, the cost to the rates 
after deducting the Government grant and the contributions from 
parents being $45, or nearly four times the cost of maintaining a 
child in the ordinary elementary schools. The results, however, 
appear to justify the high expenditure, for by means of these schools 
some 90 per cent of the children, who would otherwise be exposed 
to the worst temptations, become self-respecting members of their 
communities. The contact with the teachers, many of whom devote 
their whole time gladly to the work, has an excellent influence on 
the children who become attached to their schools and look to them 
for guidance and advice. In Manchester an association of past 
pupils of the day industrial school has been formed and annual 
reunions are held. Increased efforts are everywhere made at present 
to place the children in good employment when they leave the schools 
at the age of 14 and by keeping in touch with them to help them to 
overcome the severe handicap with which many of them start. 



Chapter XV. 

MENTAL DEFECTIVES. 

The training and aftercare of mentally deficient children constitute 
a problem to which the local education authorities and the central 
Government are attaching ever-increasing importance. It was esti- 
mated in the report of the royal commission on the feeble-minded, 
1908, on the basis of inquiry in selected areas, that 0.79 per cent of 
the school population in England and Wales were feeble-minded or 
imbecile. The recent reports of the school medical officers tend to 
place the figure at 0.50 per cent, including only feeble-minded; that 
is, about 27,000 school children. At present special provision is 
made for the education of only 12,000. The selection of backward 
and abnormal children has been brought within the scope of the 
school medical officer's duties and considerably more care is taken 
in the diagnosis and classification of these cases, while the education 
authorities will make the further necessary provisions for their edu- 
cation. The local authorities have been empowered since 1899, under 
the elementary education (Defective and Epileptic Children) act, to 
provide schools for the education of children who are certified after 
medical examination to be mentally deficient. A mentally defective 
child is denned by the act as "one who, not being imbecile and not 
being merely dull and backward, is by reason of mental defect incapa- 
ble of receiving proper benefit from the instruction in the ordinary 
public elementary schools, but is not incapable by reason of such 
defect of receiving benefit from instruction in special schools or 
classes mentioned in the act." According to the Report of the 
Chief Medical Officer of the Board of Education (1909, p. 155), "a 
mentally defective or feeble-minded child may be described as one 
in whom the powers of response and will, though present, are weak- 
ened as regards adequacy, purpose, and promptitude, owing to a 
partial absence or injury of brain matter." While the diagnosis of 
the mentally defective child is admittedly difficult, owing to varia- 
tions in standards, the Board of Education has suggested a schedule 
of medical examination (here reprinted) to be used in these cases 
and has recommended the application of the Binet-Simon tests. 
118 



MENTAL DEFECTIVES. , 119 

Schedule of Medical Examination of Children for Mental Defect. 

The object of the following schedule is to facilitate the investigation of suspected cases of mental defect. 
It is of a suggestive nature only, and is printed in the present form for the convenience of school medical 
officers making inquiries into the mental condition of feeble-minded children. 

I. Name of child, address, name of school. 
II. Particulars of home conditions, environment, school attendance, and other factors . 

III. Family history: 

Insanity, feeble-mindedness, alcoholism, tuberculosis, miscarriage, syphilis, 
epilepsy, other characteristics. 

IV. Personal history: 

Constitutional defects, injury at birth, malnutrition, rickets, diseases of 

childhood , commencement of teething. 
Walking. 
Speech, etc. 

Physical state of mother, length of gestation, convulsions, accident. 
V. Physical conditions: 

(a) General — 

Speech: Defective articulation. 

Sight: Blindness, total or partial, errors of refraction. 
Hearing: Deaf-mutism, partial deafness, partial mutism. 
Nose and throat: Enlarged tonsils, adenoids, mouth breathing. 
Control of spinal reflexes and of salivation. 

(b) Stigmata — 

General retardation — Cretinoid development. 

Cranium— Microcephaly, hydrocephaly, asymmetry, rickets, imper- 
fect closure of fontanelles, simple head measurement. 

Hair — Double and treble vortices, wiry or supple. 

Face — Irregularity of features. 

Lower jaw — Protruding or receding. 

Eyes — Mongoloid, presence of epicanthic fold. 

Ears — Size, setting, conformation, lateral symmetry, size of lobes, 
attachment of lobe to cheek, supernumerary lobules. 

Tongue — Enlarged, furrowed, papillae enlarged. 

Teeth— Irregular, absent, enlarged incisors. 

Palate — Arched, narrow. 

Fingers — Webbed, clubbed, defective in number or shape, super- 
numerary digits. 

Limbs — Excessive length of upper limbs. 
VI. Mental conditions: 

(a) Reactions of motor mechanism — 

1. Formation of motor ideas. (Execution of simple and new move- 

ment from imitation.) 

2. Storage of motor ideas. (Execution of simple familiar command 

by word of mouth.) 

3. Power of control, initiative, purpose, and concentration. Success 

of motor output. (Execution of familiar complex movement. ) 

4. Motor incompetence. Attitude in standing — position of head, 

spine, and knees. Gait. Position of arms, hands, fingers, in 
horizontal extension. General balance. 

5. Motor instability. (Habits.) Rocking of body, rubbing hands, 

spitting, biting nails, or licking lips. 

6. Motor disturbance. Tremors (face, hand, tongue), chorea, epilepsy, 

aphasia, hemiplegia. 



120 ELEMENTAKY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

VI. Mental conditions — Continued. 

(6) Reactions resulting from sensory stimulation — 

1. Attention- — color, shape, size, smell. 

2. Formation of memory images — 

(a) Recognition; objects, sounds. 
(6) Recollection. 

3. Association of ideas. 

4. Judgment (for example, length, size, distance). 

5. Relationship (similarity, contrast, symbolism). 

6. General concepts (possession, eelf-protection, purpose, concentra- 

tion, initiative). 

(c) Emotional conditions. Interest, excitement, aggression, cooperation, 

affection, etc. (positive or negative phases). 

(d) Tests of intelligence — 

1. Description of pictures, models, objects, familiar events. 

2. Letters, words, reading (word blindness). 

3. Counting, manipulation of simple numbers, simple money values. 

4. Writing. 

5. Manual tests. 

(e) Tests of will power under the above headings. 
VII. Diagnosis: 

(a) Physically defective — stating defect.. 
(6) Blind or partially blind 

(c) Deaf-mute or semi-mute or semi-deaf . 

(d) Epileptic 

(e) Merely dull or backward 

(/) Mentally defective (feeble-minded)... 
(g) Imbecile 

VIII. Treatment recommended: 

(1) An ordinary public elementary school — 

(a) Normal. 

(b) Normal, but backward. 

(2) A special class for dull and backward children. 

(3) Special school (day or residential) — 



In this group the symbols "a" 
to "g" are intended to be cor- 
related when necessary. 



(a) Feeble-minded . . 
(6) Moral defective. . 

(c) Epileptic 

(4) Unsuitable for special schools. 
Imbecile, ineducable, invalid 



With notes as to aftercare, custody, and the degree 
and character of manual training and ordinary 
school teaching likely to be advisable. 



The practice at present is for teachers to select all retarded and 
backward pupils to be examined by the school medical officer. These 
pupils are tested and classified ; those found definitely to be mentally 
defective are recommended for admission to the special schools for 
mentally defective children, if they exist; others on the border line 
may be recommended to these schools on probation and for further 
observation; a third class may be returned to the ordinary schools 
to be placed in special classes for backward children, if such have 
been established (see p. 30). After a child has been admitted to a 
special school, it is kept under observation and examined frequently 
by the medical officer. On the reports of the teachers and the doctor 
some of the children may be returned to the ordinary elementary 
schools, while others who are found to be low grade and ineducable 



MENTAL DEFECTIVES. 121 

are discharged from the school to be sent to a residential home or 
school or placed under some other form of custodial care. The 
attendance of the mentally defective at the special schools is com- 
pulsory between the ages of 7 and 16, but there are special rules by 
which they may receive exemption from further attendance after 
they have reached the age of 14. Such exemption may be obtained 
in London, for example, in cases where the pupils have opportunities 
of securing employment or training for employment, or where they 
can no longer profit by further attendance at school, or where the 
medical officer advises that prosecution for nonattendance could not 
be supported on medical grounds. 

In the school year 1910 there were 1G5 day special schools for 
mentally defective children in England and Wales, out of which 
London provided 90, with accommodation for about 7,100; Liverpool 
5, with about 500 pupils; and Manchester 4, with about 400 pupils. 
The size of the classes is limited to 20 or 25, and few schools have more 
than four classes. The teachers, who are not specially trained for the 
work, are usually selected from those who have already had experience 
in ordinary elementary schools, and, except for teaching wood and 
metal work and in the schools for elder boys, are women. An addi- 
tion of $50 is made to the annual salary of teachers in special schools 
in London and Manchester, and of $25 in Liverpool. 

The school buildings which have been specially erected for the pur- 
pose are small and consist of a central hall, classrooms, bathrooms, 
kitchens, cloakrooms, teachers' rooms, and rooms for manual work. 
In Liverpool four of the schools are housed in corrugated-iron build- 
ings, a special feature of which is the amount of glass space. The 
school hours are, as a rule, from 9.30 to 12 for the morning session, 
and from 1.30 to 3.30 or 2 to 4 in the afternoon; in schools for older 
boys the afternoon session is extended by half an hour. Arrange- 
ments are made in most of the special schools for the provision of 
the midday meals, and in Liverpool, where each school is attended 
by pupils who come some distance, all the pupils are fed, but the cost 
of the food may by law be recovered from the parents. The equip- 
ment provides for bathing facilities and adequate attention is paid 
to personal hygiene. In those schools where it is possible for a male 
teacher to accompany the pupils, swimming forms part of the course. 

In the curriculum of the special schools for the mentally defective 
children increasing emphasis is placed on different forms of manual 
work. When the schools were first established attempts were made 
to conduct the schools, with such modifications of method as were 
required by the conditions, along the lines of the ordinary elementary 
school. Experience has shown that the efforts to bring- up the men- 
tally defective children to standards acceptable in the ordinary schools 
in reading, writing, and arithmetic, are not only unprofitable, but 
are not suited to their needs. Nor is the manual work — drawing, 



122 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

color work, mat plaiting, cardboard modeling, paper folding, rug and 
basket weaving — calculated to attain the end desired, which is u to 
fit the majority of children retained in the school eventually to gain 
their own livelihood, partially of not entirely." 1 The impetus which 
manual training has received in education generally has spread to the 
special schools, and it has been introduced in various forms both for 
boys and girls. The curriculum, therefore, includes at present the 
three R's, nature study, and observation work, physical exercises 
and games (on which stress is laid), drawing and manual work. The 
ordinary school subjects are taken in the morning as a rule and the 
manual work in the afternoon. It is impossible to speak too highly 
of the devotion, sympathy, and tact of the teachers engaged in the 
work; difficult as much of the instruction must be, the results attained 
are in many cases remarkable. The methods of teaching reading and 
arithmetic are as varied as the situation demands, the concrete, of 
course, always predominating. In the former subject the teaching of 
letters and easy combinations is accompanied in some cases by 
writing, in others by making the letters and words in clay or other 
media. In the top classes third and fourth standard readers may be 
used. To prevent any flagging of interest, the pupils in the Man- 
chester schools are constantly reclassified for reading and arithmetic. 
But it is in other subjects that the efforts of the teachers are crowned 
with greatest success. The drawing, crayon and brush work, in some 
of the schools will bear comparison, allowing for the additional 
time given to these subjects, with the results in the same subjects 
in many schools for normal children, while the ordinary handwork — 
knotting, knitting, raffia work, basketwork, beadwork, etc. — is in 
many cases superior, showing not only better execution, but, when 
possible, good taste in design and color. In the last few years indus- 
trial training has been added for the older children. The girls are 
taught needlework, laundry work, and cookery. Where, as in Man- 
chester, the special provisions about to be described have not been 
made for older boys, wood and metal work only are taught. But a 
recognition of the importance of giving the older children some special 
preparation to enable them to earn a livelihood has led in London to 
the establishment of schools for mentally defective boys between 
the ages of 12 and 16. These schools are staffed with men, and special 
attention is given to industrial work, which includes joinery, boot- 
making, tailoring, gardening in some cases, as well as wood and metal 
work. The results up to the present have been good; the boys are 
not only introduced to a trade but they come under the influence of 
men teachers who perhaps understand them better and can make 
better arrangements for their physical training and games. Twelve 
such schools have been established for the older boys. Little progress 

i Rep. Chief Med. Off. of Bd. of Ed., 1911, p. 199. 



MENTAL DEFECTIVES. 123 

has so far been made in providing schools of the same type for girls; 
there is one school giving instruction in cookery, laundry work, 
housewifery, advanced needlework, mending of garments, cutting 
out, and the use of the sewing-machine, and another which is equipped 
as a domestic economy center. Special elder children schools 
have not been established in Liverpool, but instruction is given in 
woodwork, shoemaking, and tailoring to boys, and in cookery, 
laundry work, and housewifery to girls. Where it is found hopeless to 
teach a pupil any of the three R's, the instruction in manual training 
is increased, provided that it is possible to make the pupil concerned 
industrially useful. Both the London and the Liverpool schemes 
appear to be justified by the results. 

The annual cost of maintaining the special schools for mentally 
defective children is from $50 to $60 per capita, toward which a 
Government grant of sums varying from $20 to $22 per capita is paid. 
It may be of interest for comparison to state that the cost per pupil 
in the ordinary elementary schools is about $22 a year, or less than 
half of the lower estimated cost per pupil in the special schools. In 
the residential schools for the feeble-minded, of which there are eight 
in the country, the annual cost for each child is from $125 to $200. 
The schools of this type are all, with one exception, maintained by 
voluntary bodies. 

The chief problem, however, in dealing with the feeble-minded is 
not so much their education and training as their aftercare, and it 
is this aspect of the question that is at present exercising those who 
are interested in the matter. It is felt that, however successful the 
training of the special schools may be, the children leave at a time 
when they most need expert assistance and supervision not only in 
helping them to secure employment which may make them wholly or 
partially self-supporting, but in looking after their physical and moral 
welfare. So far as statistics are available, not more than about 30 or 
40 per cent of those leaving the special schools secure good or promising 
employment for any reasonable length of time, and the percentage 
would be much lower were it not for the assistance in certain areas of 
aftercare committees. The royal commission on the feeble-minded, 
which reported in 1908, estimated that the total number of persons 
in the country coming within the class of feeble-minded was 150,000, 
and drew attention to the serious danger which the presence of this 
class threatened to the community, apart from the risk of injury and 
mischief to the mentally defective person himself. The commission 
recommended the appointment of a central authority and local com- 
mittees to deal with these afflicted persons, and the establishment of 
institutions for their detention to save them from destitution and the 
propagation of their kind. In 1912 the Government introduced a 
bill into Parliament, the Mental Deficiency Bill, "to make further 



124 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

and better provision with respect to feeble-minded and other mentally 
defective persons. " It was proposed to establish a commission with 
general powers to supervise and control defectives, to certify and 
inspect institutions for their detention, and to provide State institu- 
tions for criminal, violent, and dangerous defectives. Local authori- 
ties were to appoint committees for the care of mental defectives, to 
ascertain the number of persons within the area of their control who 
come under the provisions of the measure, to register them, and to 
provide institutions for their detention or place them under guardian- 
ship. To these committees the local education authorities were to 
hand over pupils who were ready to leave the special schools. Par- 
ents, guardians, friends, or the local authority might petition a 
magistrate, who, on the certification of two medical doctors, could 
place a defective in a certified institution or, if criminal, in a State 
institution. But only those mental defectives were included in the 
bill who were found to be wandering, neglected, cruelly treated, 
habitually drunk, charged with crime, or a danger to the community. 
The bill was subjected to considerable criticism on the ground that 
in the present state of incomplete knowledge of what constitutes 
feeble-mindedness, it was introducing a measure dangerous to the 
liberty of the subject. Similar objection was raised against the 
arguments of those who adduced eugenic principles in support of the 
bill. The measure was withdrawn and a new bill has recently, 
April, 1913, been substituted. In place of a new commission the 
mental deficiency commission is merged with the existing lunacy 
commission. The proposal of a register has been dropped, and there 
is no obligation on medical officers of health, constables, and others 
to report on mental defectives coming under their notice. The 
prohibition of the marriage of mental defectives has been removed. 
It is now provided that such cases of defective children as come 
under the purview o£ the commissions are to be reviewed at the end 
of a period of two years, and in the event of its remaining under the 
commission's charge each case is to be again reviewed after two 
further periods of Hive years each, that is, at the ages of 20 and 25. 
Visiting justices are also to be empowered to review cases at the age 
of 21, with an appeal from their decision to the commissions. In 
ordering the detention of mental defectives, either on the medical 
certificates or after special medical examination, only the benefit of 
the person concerned and not the benefit of the public is to be 
considered. 

In the absence of legislation the control and guidance of mental 
defectives has been undertaken in several instances by aftercare 
committees. This system of voluntary bodies, which was intro- 
duced in Birmingham in 1901, has as its objects the following up of 
mentally defective children after they leave school, helping them to 



MENTAL DEFECTIVES. 125 

find employment, visiting them at their employment and in their 
homes, and supervising them generally. In London the aftercare 
committees usually include teachers of special schools, managers or 
their representatives, and others interested in mental defectives. 
Each member of such a committee undertakes the care of five or six 
children. The work of the aftercare committees of the country is 
coordinated to some extent by the national association central after- 
care committee, formed under the auspices of the National Associa- 
tion for the Feeble-Minded. Apart from the benefit conferred on 
the mental defectives by the attention of the aftercare committees 
they are performing valuable work in keeping records of the after 
careers of the children who leave the special schools, but it is found 
that from 20 to 25 per cent of the cases are lost sight of. 

On the whole, however, there is a tendency on the part of those 
who are connected with the care of the mental defectives, whether as 
teachers or as managers of special schools, to be somewhat pessimistic 
about the ultimate results of their work without the aid of some 
form of legislation providing for the detention of many cases of 
feeble-mindedness in colonies organized on the lines of the Sandle- 
bridge Home for Mentally Defective Children. This well-known 
institution was established and maintained by the Incorporated 
Lancashire and Cheshire Society for the Permanent Care of the 
Feeble-Minded. The foundress of the society was Miss Mary Dendy, 
whose efforts on behalf of the institution in particular and of the 
feeble-minded in general have been unremitting. The colony has 
accommodation for 164 children under 16, who attend the special 
school, and for 68 adolescents and adults over 16 who are engaged 
in housework, laundrywork, farmwork, and gardening. The 
children of a lower grade of intelligence than those treated in the 
day special schools are sent to the colony by local education and 
poor-law authorities. The institution, which covers 200 acres, 
includes residential homes for younger children, for adolescent girls 
and women, and for adolescent boys and men, a schoolhouse, laundry, 
cowhouses, farm buildings, gardens, meadows, and pastures. The 
school provides instruction of the same type as that given in the special 
schools, and in addition the boys are taught housework, gardening, and 
farmwork, while the girls learn rugmaking, knitting, laundry, and 
housework. Only those who have passed through the school are 
allowed to remain in the colony after they reach the age of 16. The 
staff consists of 27 persons, or about one member for about 8 inmates. 
The cost per head is nearly $149 per year, the income being made up 
of the grant from the Board of Education, the payments of the local 
authorities, the profits from the farm, and the sale of other products, 
parents' contributions, and subscriptions. 



Chapter XVI. 

CENTRAL SCHOOLS. 

Within the past few years a new type of school offering an advanced 
elementary education has been established in London and Manchester 
to take the place of the higher elementary schools. These schools 
are not only interesting in themselves as an attempt to provide gener- 
alized vocational preparation for pupils who can not remain at school 
beyond their fifteenth year, but their establishment is a significant 
indication of the independence of the local authorities in matters on 
which they find themselves unable to accept the regulations of the 
Board of Education. The old school boards had already provided 
and maintained higher grade schools under the regulations of the 
Science and Art Department of South Kensington, but by the Cocker- 
ton judgment of 1899 the use of public funds for schools offering a 
course to pupils who could remain beyond the ordinary day-school 
period was declared illegal. The Board of Education, however, by a 
minute issued in April, 1900, and later included in the code of 1901, 
permitted the establishment of higher elementary schools. The 
education acts of 1902 and 1903 further regulated these schools. It 
was prescribed, and the regulations are still part of the code, that the 
higher elementary schools should offer a three-years 7 course to pupils 
between the ages of 12 and 15 coming from elementary schools. The 
curriculum, which was to be subject to the approval of the board, was 
to include English language and literature, elementary mathematics, 
history, geography, drawing, and manual work (for boys), domestic 
subjects (for girls), and special instruction bearing on the future occu- 
pations of the scholars. The size of classes was restricted to 40, the 
number of scholars in a department was limited to 350, at least 12 
square feet of floor space were required per scholar, and there were 
prescriptions bearing on the teaching staff. The grants, which were 
of course higher than for the ordinary elementary schools, were 
payable in respect of scholars under 15, that is for the three-years' 
course, but under special circumstances a fourth year might be sanc- 
tioned and a grant paid for it. 

Several circumstances combined to make the maintenance of the 
higher elementary schools under these conditions somewhat difficult. 
The curriculum was found to be inelastic and not easily adapted to local 
needs; the restrictions on accommodation and floor space per scholar 
rendered the system expensive; the establishment of secondary 
schools by local authorities and the institution of scholarships to be 
126 



CENTRAL SCHOOLS. 127 

held in these schools, while they were forbidden by law in elementary 
schools, withdrew a large number of pupils from the higher elemen- 
tary schools. At the same time it was felt that the needs of those 
boys and girls whose parents could afford to keep them at schools 
until 15 or 16, but for whom the curriculum of a secondary school 
was unsuitable, must not be overlooked. The increasing attention 
directed to education along practical lines, the demand for training 
in industrial intelligence, and the desirability of providing some 
preparation for the future .careers of pupils leaving at the age of 15 
or 16, were factors which contributed to determine the character of 
the new types of schools to replace the higher elementary. In 1910 
the education committees of London and Manchester, within three 
months of each other, decided to establish schools to meet these 
needs under the name of "central schools." By this step the local 
authorities forfeited the higher elementary school grant, but since 
the new schools were to be carried on under the ordinary regulations 
of the Board of Education, they could qualify for the ordinary ele- 
mentary-school grant. 

In establishing the central schools the purpose of the London 
County Council education committee was to provide for the pupil 
leaving school at an age between 15 and 16 — 

the best possible equipment for entering upon the industrial or commercial world as 
soon as he leaves school while at the same time qualifying him to enter upon a special 
course of training for some particular industry at a polytechnic or similar institution 
if he desires to continue his education further. 1 

As stated by the Manchester Education Committee, the aim of the 
central schools " will be thoroughly to equip boys and girls for indus- 
trial, commercial, and home life." 2 In neither case, however, was it 
intended in these schools to give special preparation for any trade or 
occupation in particular, but rather to develop the groundwork of 
elementary knowledge with a bias in favor of industrial or commercial 
life. Since these schools were established as a protest against the 
rigid prescriptions of the board, no attempt has been made to limit 
their usefulness by narrow definitions of their curriculum, although 
certain minimum requirements have been laid down in London, and 
in Manchester a leaving examination, conducted by the local inspec- 
tors, has been established. Thus elasticity and adaptation to local 
needs are the guiding principles in the organization of the central 
schools, and the head teachers enjoy considerable freedom in framing 
the curricula of their schools. 

The central school system was inaugurated in both London and 
Manchester in 1911 and appears already to have met with marked 
success. Six of these schools have been established in Manchester, 
and in London it is proposed ultimately to establish 60, of which about 

1 L. C. C Ed. Committee, Rep. on Central Schools, Mar. 1, 1910. 

2 Manchester Ed. Committee, An. Rep. for 1909-10. 



128 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

three-fourths have already been opened. When the London scheme 
is complete it is expected that there will be sufficient accommodation 
annually for about one-fifth of the elementary-school pupils eligible 
to enter the central schools under the regulations. The provision in 
Manchester is much lower. Each central school is fed by scholars 
drawn from neighboring elementary schools. To be eligible for 
admission to the London central schools boys and girls from the 
contributory elementary schools must be between the ages of 1 1 and 
12 and must be nominated for the junior county scholarship exami- 
nation (see p. 98). The selection from among the eligible scholars, 
nominated by the respective head teachers of the contributory 
schools, is made by the committee of each central school, which con- 
sists of one manager from each of the contributory schools. In 
determining the choice of suitable candidates the recommendations 
of head teachers and district inspectors, the marks obtained at the 
previous terminal examination, the probability that pupils will 
remain at the central school long enough to profit by the course, and 
the results of the examination for the junior county scholarship are 
all taken into consideration, while for admission to schools or depart- 
ments with an industrial bias specimen drawings and evidence of 
manual dexterity are also required. The parents of selected candi- 
dates must sign a declaration of their intention to retain their children 
at the central school until the completion of the course offered. In 
practice the selection is made, as a rule, by the head teacher of the 
central school in consultation with the head teachers of the respective 
contributory schools and the district inspectors. Each central 
school draws on the average from about 18 to 20 contributory schools, 
but there is no requirement that any proportion be observed in the 
selection of candidates from each school. It is obvious that a central 
school can in this way serve to keep up the standards of its contribu- 
tory schools in a way analogous to that of the accrediting system of 
some American universities. Provision is also made for the admis- 
sion in special cases of pupils who, though they have not previously 
attended an elementary school, are otherwise eligible. In order to 
encourage pupils to continue until the end of the four-years' course — 
that is, to the end of the school year in which they attain their 
fifteenth year — a system of junior county exhibitions has been 
introduced. The value of these exhibitions, when the full number of 
central schools has been established, is not to exceed $375,000 a year, 
a sum which will be saved by a diminution in the number of candi- 
dates for the scholarships tenable at secondary schools. The junior 
county exhibitions are awarded to candidates who have already 
attended a central school for two years, who are of good health, and 
whose parents are not in receipt of an income exceeding $800 a year. 



CENTRAL SCHOOLS. 129 

The awards are made on the recommendation of the head teachers 
and the district inspectors by a special selection committee, whose 
recommendations are confirmed by the education committee. No 
payment is made in respect of a junior county exhibition until the 
exhibitioner has attained the age of 14 years. The exhibitions vary 
in value, but in no case exceed a total aggregate value of $90. 

In the Manchester schools the system of selection differs somewhat 
from that of London, but the standard of entrance is the same. Fees 
are charged varying in the different schools and districts from 2 cents 
to 12 cents a week. Candidates for admission must be able to pass 
an examination equivalent to Standard V of the code. There is, 
however, a large number of free places, not exceeding 150, or 25 per 
cent of the accommodation, whichever is less, for each school. The 
award of the free admissions is dependent on a recommendation from 
the head teacher of the elementary school last attended by a candi- 
date, the payment of rates in the city by the candidate's parents, 
and the passing of an examination in the following subjects: Reading 
and viva voce test; writing from dictation; drawing; composition; 
arithmetic; English grammar. As in London, parents of successful 
candidates must enter into an agreement to keep their children at 
school until the end of the school year in which they attain their 
fifteenth year. In addition to the free admissions, the education 
committee also offers annually 160 bursaries of the %alue of $5 for 
the first year, $10 for the second year, and $25 for the third and 
fourth years, and no payments are made until a scholar reaches his 
twelfth birthday. 

The effect of both methods of selection is thus to provide opportu- 
nities for the boys and girls of ability to receive an education which, 
while it is not secondary in character, is higher than that of the ordi- 
nary elementary schools. The best pupils are of course drawn off to 
the secondary schools by means of scholarships. There is thus per- 
haps some justification for the complaint of the ordinary elementary 
school teachers £hat their top classes are denuded of pupils of ability. 
Added to this there is a feeling in the same quarter, for which it may 
be said there is no justification, that the education offered in the 
central schools is not superior to that of the ordinary elementary 
school. But, as is pointed out elsewhere, the truth would rather 
seem to be that most elementary schools could by a slight reorgani- 
zation offer similar instruction to that of the central schools. For 
this there is in fact some warrant in practice, for in at least one of the 
Manchester central schools most of the pupils pass through the junior 
department of the same school, and in Liverpool, as will be described 
later, two years of specialized work are given in some of the elemen- 
tary schools. Such a reorganization would perhaps serve to give 
4832°— 14 9 



130 ELEMENTAKY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

point to the last two or three years of elementary school life which 
is at present generally lacking. 

So far as the Board of Education is concerned, the central schools 
are treated as elementary schools, are conducted under the same 
regulations, and receive the same grants for all pupils under 15 years 
of age. The accommodation is calculated as in the ordinary ele- 
mentary schools on the basis of 10 square feet per child, but the size 
of classes is restricted to 40. The teachers must possess the same 
qualifications as teachers in the ordinary elementary schools, but as 
a rule the tendency is to appoint certificated teachers who possess a 
university degree. The scale of salaries is the same as for ordinary 
teachers, but an additional annual sum of $50 may be paid in cases 
where the teacher is required to produce special qualifications for 
teaching the subjects in the school course, but the maximum salary 
remains the same. Similar conditions prevail in Manchester. Many 
of the teachers in fact do possess qualifications which are as high as 
those demanded of teachers in secondary schools and include in 
addition professional training, but are unable, owing to the prevailing 
obstacles which bar the progress of the elementary school teacher to 
obtain appointments in secondary schools. 

The central schools x are organized with a commercial or an indus- 
trial bias, or both. Generally the nature of the bias is determined by 
the character of the district in which the school is situated. Where 
a school is organized on both commercial and industrial lines, the 
wishes of the parents, and, if possible, the bent of the pupils, are 
considered in determining the choice of a course. In some cases the 
determining factor is the accommodation of the school. Of the two 
courses the commercial, probably because the requirements are more 
obvious and because a tradition has already been established, is the 
more definite and objective. The industrial courses, for boys at any 
rate, are more generalized and aim at training in alertness and initia- 
tive rather than special training for any particular occupation. And, 
indeed, special preparation in an area like London, where the indus- 
tries are gradually moving away, would offer a problem of insur- 
mountable difficulty, even if it were desirable. As a matter of fact, 
many boys who have passed through an industrial course, enter 
warehouses and offices. This problem is not surrounded with such 
difficulties in the case of girls' schools, for here the industrial courses 
combine preparation for the home with general training in needle- 
work and dressmaking. 

The commercial courses in schools or departments with a commer- 
cial bias are so framed that scholars are able to enter business houses 
without any further preparation. The minimum requirements as 

1 Since the work of the Manchester schools is very similar in character, attention will only be given here 
to the London schools. 






CENTRAL SCHOOLS. • 131 

laid down in the Elementary Schools Handbook of the London 
County Council are as follows: 

(1) At least four hours a week must be given to a modern language during the whole 
of the four years' course. 

(2) Not less than two hours a week must be given to laboratory work in experimental 
science during the first and second years of the course, and, if thought desirable, this 
instruction may be continued during the third and fourth years. 

(3) At least two hours a week must be given to drawing, including scale drawing, 
throughout the whole of the course. 

(4) In the case of boys, one session a week must be given to handicraft during 1 he 
first and second years. 

(5) In the case of girls, one session a week must be given to domestic economy dur- 
ing the first three years of the course, but its continuance in the fourth year is optional. 

(6) Not less than one and a half hours a week must be given to shorthand as an op- 
tional subject in the third and fourth years. 

(7) Not less than one hour a week must be given to the principles of bookkeeping 
during the third and fourth years as an optional subject. 

(8) Where there is sufficient demand, an optional out-of -school class in typewriting 
must be held for one hour a day * * * to be attended only by third and fourth 
year pupils. 

In addition to the above, the ordinary school subjects — Scripture, 
English, history, geography, mathematics, singing, and physical 
exercises — are also included. Where both commercial and industrial 
courses are offered in the same school, the curriculum, with the excep- 
tion of the modern language, is the same for both groups in the first 
two years, the bifurcation taking place at the beginning of the third 
year. 

It would be impossible to enter into details of the curriculum, for 
the standard is found to vary from school to school, and for compara- 
tive purposes an outline will be of greater service. As compared 
with the ordinary elementary schools, it may be said in general that 
the curriculum of the central schools, in spite of the additional sub- 
jects, is richer in content, and since the classes are smaller, a certain 
improvement in the methods of instruction can be observed. Train- 
ing in initiative and in habits of independent working and thinking 
are more successful. The teachers are freer from the bad practice 
of lecturing, while the pupils show greater ability to work by them- 
selves. It is not forgotten that the pupils of the central schools are 
selected, nor that as a rule the teachers have higher qualifications 
(although poor teachers are to be found here too), but it is a fact that 
here are schools which are attempting to realize the standards of the 
newer pedagogy. Let it, however, not be inferred that the curricu- 
lum is beyond criticism or that the methods of instruction are always 
unimpeachable. There are schools the head teachers of which feel 
that the old practice of working for examinations according to the 
scheme of some outside examining body can not be improved upon, 
or who hold that a broad general preparation for the 'career of the 



132 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

office or the home does not possess educational elements. Three 
years is perhaps a short period for a new type of school to develop 
itself fully, but there are schools which have already addressed them- 
selves to a successful solution of the problem. It will perhaps not 
be regarded as invidious to mention the excellent work in this direc- 
tion of the commercial departments of the Monnow Koad Central 
School (boys and girls sections), and the Thomas Street (Limehouse) 
Central School (girls). 

In regard to the special subjects, one can not speak too highly of 
the standard of instruction in modern languages. Not only have the 
teachers in most cases an excellent command of the language which 
they teach, but they have thoroughly mastered the difficulties of the 
direct method of instruction, which has contributed so largely to the 
improvement of the teaching in this field in recent years. French is 
the language usually taught, and although its value as a commercial 
language is open to question, it is at any rate the language which the 
London boy or girl is most likely to need in later years. With regard 
to the use of phonetics opinion is divided, but, whatever the method 
employed, pronunciation is carefully and successfully taught. 
Ability to converse on simple subjects, to read a simple story book, 
to write an ordinary or business letter is the standard aimed at. 
Recitation and singing and the performance of a play are also 
included in some of the schemes in French. At the Thomas Street 
Central School for girls about 50 of the better pupils begin German in 
the third year of the course, and, in spite of the pressure of other 
special work in the second half of the course, excellent progress is 
made. 

Mathematics, which in the boys' schools includes arithmetic, alge- 
bra, geometry, and mensuration, and in the girls' schools is usually 
confined to arithmetic and geometry, is made practical throughout. 
The arithmetic of the elementary schools is continued up to discount, 
commission, brokerage, statistical problems, bankruptcy problems, 
stocks and shares, coinage and exchange, and compound interest. 
But, as in the elementary schools, no attention is paid to the " arith- 
metic of citizenship" or of public financial bodies. Algebra, which is 
begun in the first year, is continued throughout the course and 
includes quadratic equations and progressions. In geometry the 
course deals, with the aid of practical illustrations so far as possible, 
with the properties of figures covered by the first three books of Euclid. 
In this connection the interesting mechanical devices invented by one 
of the assistant masters at the Monnow Road School to illustrate the 
geometrical properties of different figures deserve mention. The 
practice varies, but as a rule geometry in the commercial classes is 
discontinued after the first two years. No subject shows such radical 
changes of treatment as practical arithmetic, or mensuration. Here 



CENTRAL SCHOOLS. 133 

rigid insistence on desk work has been definitely abandoned, and 
when the need arises, boys may be seen in the corridors and play- 
grounds of the school conducting their measurements in a workman- 
like manner. After an introduction on scale drawing and the use of 
different measures, measurements are made of plane and solid 
figures of cardboard, paper, and wood, and the methods are then 
applied to the measurement and drawing to scale of the classroom 
and its furniture. Areas of the objects measured are found both by 
calculation and the use of squared paper, and the calculation of 
volume, costs, and quantities are also made in the same connection. 
A little practice in surveying, usually in the playground, is added and 
measurements are taken with simple surveying instruments made 
in the manual-training room. The subject is thus correlated with 
arithmetic, geometry, drawing, the beginnings of elementary science, 
and with handicraft. In the girls' schools the practical application 
of the arithmetic arises in connection with the needlework and dress- 
making, and also the domestic subjects. 

The courses in elementary science for boys, which cover two or 
three years, are introductory to chemistry and physics, and deal in 
the main with the elements of these subjects. After some preliminary 
instruction in the use and construction of the simpler measuring 
instruments, such as the calipers, wedges, and verniers, the pupils 
proceed to the study of density, specific gravity, the principle of 
Archimedes, pressure of air and liquids, the barometer, the ther- 
mometer, and heat. The course in chemistry deals with the elements 
hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, with the composition of air and 
water, with standard solutions of acids and alkalies, and with for- 
mula? and equations bearing on the subject. The science in the girls' 
schools has perhaps a closer bearing on the practical everyday 
experiences, except where, as in some schools, it is wholly devoted 
to botany. Usually it is correlated with the domestic subjects and 
includes the chemistry of foods and clothing, hygiene and physiology. 

In the technical subjects, i. e., bookkeeping, business routine, short- * 
hand and typewriting, only an introductory course is attempted. 
It is felt that more than this might not only lead to the danger of 
exploiting the young employees, but in the case of boys might narrow 
their opportunities of learning other branches of commerce than mere 
office routine. Hence in shorthand a speed of not more than 50 or 
60 words a minute and in typewriting about 25 or 30 words a minute 
is aimed at. And in bookkeeping, since the methods are likely to 
vary in different offices, the pupils are merely instructed in a knowl- 
edge of the chief books and their use, of simple accounting, and of 
the more general business terms. 

Of the remaining subjects the teaching of English is still open to 
the same criticism that was passed on it in the ordinary elementary 



134 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

schools. In English the amount of reading is somewhat more exten- 
sive than in the element ary schools. The lessons in literature are 
often little more than reading lessons, varied occasionally by dramatic 
representation. Undoubtedly English is the most difficult subject in 
the curriculum, but there are not wanting instances of excellent 
methods in teaching this subject. History in the central schools 
receives serious attention. As a rule only English history is taken, 
but in a few schools, generally for girls, an outline of universal history 
is attempted. The emphasis is not on the biographical and pictur- 
esque, which is commonly the casein the ordinary schools, but a survey 
is made of the growth of institutions, political, social, and economic. 
In connection with this subject, the study of current events through 
the medium of the illustrated press may be mentioned. At the 
Monnow Road School for boys, in addition to a course on the develop- 
ment of commerce, a beginning has been made in the study of eco- 
nomics — the meaning of wealth, capital, income, price, wages, and 
profits. With regard to the teaching of geography, drawing, and 
handicrafts, it is perhaps unnecessary to add more than has already 
been said in dealing with these subjects in the ordinary elementary 
schools, and the same reference may be made with respect to the 
remaining subjects — singing, physical exercise, and organized games. 

In those schools or departments which have been organized with 
an industrial bias the objective is perhaps somewhat less well defined 
than where the commercial bias has been adopted. Here it is clearly 
impossible to provide the special preparation of the type given in a 
trade school or polytechnic. The aim, as it is indicated by the head- 
master of the Monnow Road school for boys and indorsed by other 
headmasters, is " to produce an intelligent and alert boy, accurate and 
skillful of hand, capable of continuous effort, and less book taught. " 
The curriculum is accordingly organized to train industrial intelli- 
gence rather than to impart vocational skill. The aim in the girls' 
schools with an industrial bias is somewhat more specific, and besides 
affording a preparation for the home, enables the pupils to secure 
employment in dressmaking, needlework, and millinery establish- 
ments. 

The minimum requirements for central schools with an industrial 
bias or a department with such a bias are as follows: 

(i) Not less than 10 and not more than 12 hours per week must be given to practical 
work during the whole of the four years' course. The practical work in the case of 
boys shall consist of science (including mensuration), drawing, clay-modeling, wood 
and metal work, and, in special circumstances, leather work and printing or other 
approved subjects; and in the case of girls it shall consist of elementary science, 
domestic economy, drawing, practical needlework, or other approved subjects. 

(li) Instruction in a modern foreign language may, in special circumstances, be 
given, but the minimum of three hours a week to be devoted to instruction in the 
subject * * * must be observed. 1 

1 Elementary Schools Handbook, p. 140. 



CENTRAL SCHOOLS. 135 

The industrial course for boys is organized on a basis of mensura- 
tion, science, drawings and handicraft. Some indication has already 
been given, in treating of the commercial courses, of the early work 
in mensuration and science. After the bifurcation, or in the third 
year, the industrial pupils continue mensuration with measurements 
of more difficult objects, such as the parts of machinery, the drawing 
of plans and elevations of parts of the school which are accessible, 
the measurement of heights and distances with the aid of simply- 
constructed theodolites, sextants, anglemeters, etc., perspective 
drawings, scale drawings, tracings, and the making of blue prints. 
Trigonometry and the use of logarithms are also introduced. In 
connection with this subject, lessons are included on the properties 
of such materials as the pupils come into contact with, and these 
are again dealt with in the arithmetic lesson in estimating problems 
of costs and quantities of materials, and in drawing up contractors' 
estimates. While the course as here described is that given at the 
Monnow Road school, similar courses, perhaps not so well rounded 
out, are given in other schools. Thus at the Thomas Street, Lime- 
house, arithmetic, geometry, and mensuration form the backbone of 
the curriculum, but less stress is laid upon scale drawing, tracing, 
and blue prints. 

Under elementary science, physics and mechanics are included. 
The introductory part of the physics course has already been indi- 
cated. In the last two years of the course the subject is continued 
up to magnetism and electricity, and simple models are made to 
illustrate the working of cell batteries, electric magnets, small motors, 
the electric bell, the telephone and telegraph. In mechanics the 
following topics are generally dealt with: Levers, moments of forces, 
the balance, parallelogram and triangle of forces, pulleys, inclined 
plane, friction, elasticity, torsion, and rigidity and bending. All 
the experiments are worked out in graphs. Many of the simpler 
models are made in the woodwork room to be used in the mechanics 
lessons. At the Thomas Street school the machinery and lathes of 
the metal workshop are used for the purposes of instruction in 
practical mechanics. 

Manual work forms part of the instruction throughout the four 
years of the industrial course. All the schools are equipped with 
woodwork shops; a few also have metal workshops provided with 
lathes, anvil, and forge. Where a scheme of correlation has been 
worked out, models are made in wood for use in connection with 
instruction in mensuration, physics, and mechanics. The general 
outline of all the schemes is usually the same as for the elementary 
schools. There is, however, closer correlation between the work- 
shops and the art rooms in which designs are made under the super- 
vision of the art teacher. In some schools, in the final year of the 



136 ELEMENTAKY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

course in woodwork, polishing, varnishing, and inlaying are taught, 
and a few models are made introducing light metal work. But as a 
rule the combination of the two media, where both metal and wood 
workshops exist, is very slight. The course in wood at the Monnow 
Road school provides for the construction of pieces of mechanism, 
e. g., eccentric, piston, slide-valve, etc., and their combination to 
produce a working model. The work in metal is organized on the 
same principles as that in wood. About one year, or 18 months, is 
spent in working through a set scheme to give facility in the use of 
the tools and the different metals; tin, iron, steel, brass, and copper 
are provided. In the latter part of the course the pupils are per- 
mitted, after consultation with the instructor, to make their own 
models, of which they must present preliminary designs. These 
models include match boxes, match stands, keyholes, hinges, finger- 
plates, ash trays, etc. 

In the central schools for girls and in those departments which 
have an industrial bias, emphasis is directed to the needlecraft in- 
dustries and domestic subjects. The courses in needlework include 
the measurement, cutting out and making of garments, the use of 
the sewing machine, knitting, repairing and mending of garments, 
and embroidery. The designs for the last subject are made under 
the supervision of the art teacher. In some schools, millinery is 
also included as part of the practical work. The domestic subjects 
are cookery and laundry and housewifery, where the necessary 
accommodation and equipment are provided. As in the commercial 
courses, these subjects afford the starting poin£ for the instruction 
in science, although nature study and botany sometimes take the 
place of the chemistry of foods and clothing, nutrition, hygiene and 
physiology, and chemistry of the household. 

The content and scope of the remaining subjects in the industrial 
courses are the same as already described for the commercial. In 
some cases the emphasis in the teaching of history and the develop- 
ment of social institutions is laid on the history and organization of 
industries and the development and influence of inventions. 

It is perhaps too early to attempt any estimate of the social value, 
that is the value to the community, of the central schools. A tradi- 
tion has yet to be established that the extended education confers 
an ultimate monetary value on the pupils. Many parents, in spite 
of their declarations, remove their children from the central schools 
as soon as they reach the age of 14. The establishment of main- 
tenance grants will undoubtedly serve as a strong inducement to 
keep pupils at school until the close of the four years' course. That 
the pupils benefit greatly from a course which is more in accordance 
with their abilities than that of the upper standards of the ordinary 
elementary schools there can be little doubt. The other side of the 



CENTRAL SCHOOLS. 137 

question is the one which mainly appeals to the parent — does attend- 
ance at the central school open up better opportunities for their 
children ? It is difficult to answer this question, especially as some 
of the head teachers are themselves uncertain on the subject. Where 
the head teachers place themselves in relation with the employers, 
and the pupils of their school become known, the question is easily 
answered, and the better pupils may be sure of finding themselves 
well placed at the end of the course. Thus the head teacher of the 
Monnow Road school has established a connection with several local 
engineering shops and with some commercial houses in the city. But 
where personal effort of the head teacher is absent, the pupils are 
at present little better off than the pupils of the ordinary elementary 
schools, and must rely on the juvenile labor exchanges or advertise- 
ments or on their own friends to secure employment. One of the 
grievances of teachers connected with this type of school is that the 
central school has no status, and for this reason they would welcome 
examination and certification by some external authority. It is 
felt, for example, that for employment in a bank or in the insurance 
offices the boy who has had some business training in a central 
school is handicapped in competition with the boy who has attended 
a secondary school for a couple or years. While there is some truth 
in these criticisms, it must be remembered that the schools have 
hardly been established long enough to secure much recognition. 
The fact remains that the boys and girls do find employment. The 
majority of those who have taken a commercial course and a few of 
those who have taken the industrial, enter offices, the boys beginning 
as a rule with a wage of from 5 shillings to 7 shilHngs 6 pence, and 
the girls at a somewhat higher rate. The after-careers of the boys 
who take the industrial courses can not be dealt with in the same 
general way. It is presumed that the majority enter upon such of 
the industrial employments as do not require special previous train- 
ing. The girls find employment with the large dressmaking estab- 
lishments, a few take up domestic service, and a small proportion 
remain at home. There is also one other course open to the pupils 
of central schools, and that is to proceed to the polytechnics and 
trade schools, either as paying pupils or by means of scholarships 
(seeCh. XI). 

Liverpool has provided courses which, while similar in aim, differ 
somewhat in organization from the central schools of Manchester and 
London. Classes have been organized in Liverpool in connection 
with the ordinary elementary schools to provide special preparation 
for commercial careers for both boys and girls. The course, which 
lasts for two years, begins in the last year of the ordinary elementary 
school and is only open to those pupils whose parents agree to keep 
them at school until their fifteenth birthday. These classes are still 



138 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

in their experimental stage, having been in existence less than two 
years. They promise, however, to meet a definite demand, and are 
valuable as an attempt to provide a well-defined "top" in the ele- 
mentary schools. When the desirability of establishing the com- 
mercial classes at the Lawrence Road Council Schools was recognized 
in January, 1912, the following letter was sent to the parents: 

Dear Sir or Madam: 

The provision of some special instruction to fit girls and boys for the vocation or call- 
ing which they wish to take up has been for some time under consideration. It is felt 
that many parents would willingly prolong the school life of their children, provided 
that in the last year or 18 months some means could be adopted of preparing them for 
their future work. 

The advantages of a trade are so obvious that they need not be detailed, but in a com- 
mercial city like Liverpool many boys and girls must of necessity enter offices. For 
these it is proposed to establish a class for instruction in such technical subjects as 
shorthand, bookkeeping, business routine, possibly typewriting, etc., whilst contin- 
uing the general education. * * * 

The formation of the class depends on the sanction of the education committee, 
His Majesty's inspector, and the managers of the school, and on a sufficient number of 
parents expressing their willingness to allow their children to continue at school at 
least until their fifteenth birthday. 

If, after full consideration and discussion at home, you are willing that 

should join this class, kindly sign the inclosed guaranty form (i. e., to keep the pupila 
at school until the end of the course) and return, etc., 

In comparing the time-tables of the Lawrence Road Council School 
with that of a central school having a commercial bias, three facts 
are noticed. In the first place, the foreign language is omitted, and 
necessarily so since the two years of the course would hardly suffice 
to give more than the rudiments. Secondly, the manual work for 
both the boys and girls is continued to the close. Lastly, more time 
is devoted to the purely commercial subjects than in the London cen- 
tral schools. The classes are mixed, and the girls show a tendency 
to remain at school longer than the boys. There is, however, a great 
demand for juvenile labor in Liverpool at present, and the pupils who 
take the special classes have little difficulty in finding employment. 
If good openings occur, pupils may by agreement with their principal 
be allowed to leave before the completion of their course. 

It is difficult to estimate the advantages and disadvantages of the 
two systems. The provision of a definite, self-contained course at 
the top of an ordinary elementary school, open to all who desire to 
avail themselves of the opportunity, may serve as a stimulus for pro- 
longing the school life of boys and girls. Such a system should ulti- 
mately establish the right of all children to a type of education which 
will equip them with special fitness in some direction or other, instead 
of limiting such special preparation to a favored few. The Liverpool 
system has the further advantage that the pupils remain under the 
supervision of the principal and teachers already familiar with them. 



CENTRAL SCHOOLS. 139 

On the other hand, the special schools of the central type may have the 
advantage of superior equipment, and so far as the pupils are con- 
cerned may have some influence on them through the consciousness 
of selection. Some loss of time must, however, be involved in dis- 
covering the attainments and abilities of pupils drawn together to the 
central school from some 20 contributory schools. On the whole the 
Liverpool system is a valuable experiment in the direction of provid- 
ing a well-defined "top" in the ordinary elementary schools, which 
in time may well be extended to other than commercial preparation. 
The curriculum at present is perhaps not so liberal as that of the cen- 
tral schools, but the experience of time will probably lead to improve- 
ment in this respect. 

Corresponding to the central schools or departments of schools 
with an industrial bias a trade preparatory school has been estab- 
lished in Liverpool at the Toxteth Technical Institute. The Trade 
Preparatory School "is intended to provide a sound practical educa- 
tion for boys who, having already had a sound primary education, 
are preparing to become, at the age of about 15 or 16 years, appren- 
tices to the mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, sheet 
metal, carpentry and joinery, building, or other trades." Boys are 
admitted to the school who are not less than 13 years of age, pass an 
entrance examination in arithmetic, drawing (freehand and geom- 
etry), and English, equivalent to Standard VII, and are intended by 
their parents to remain at school until the course is completed and 
then to proceed to industrial work. A fee of $3 a term is charged, 
but 15 entrance scholarships are offered giving free tuition for one 
year, and 10 scholarships are awarded for a second year's course. 
The school is equipped with large science laboratories, one workshop 
for woodwork and another for metal work. The course, which lasts 
two years, includes the following subjects: Workshop practice in wood 
and metal, practical mathematics (arithmetic, mensuration, algebra, 
logarithms, and trigonometry), practical drawing of engineering, 
building and other details, freehand drawing, elementary science 
(mechanics, physics, and chemistry), English (reading, composition, 
geography, industrial history), physical exercises. The boys, "while 
continuing and improving their ordinary education, are learning prac- 
tical drawing and measurements and calculations of the kind required 
in workshops and drawing offices; the use of various tools, machines, 
and instruments used in the working of wood and metal, and the 
designing and making-up of various construction models; together 
with a practical knowledge of the elementary principles of electricity, 
chemistry, heat, mechanics, and other useful subjects." While the 
course does not attempt to give preparation for any special branch 
of the engineering or building trades, it provides a general training 
which is of the highest value to the future apprentice in* any of these 



140 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

trades. It is intended, however, to introduce a little specialization 
in the scientific subjects more in accordance with the employments 
which the pupils intend to enter. Here, again, if a comparison may 
be instituted with the London central schools or departments with 
an industrial bias, the advantage rests with the Liverpool scheme. 
In the first place, Liverpool has a natural advantage in being the 
center of considerable engineering industries which offer a definite 
objective for schools of the type of the Trade Preparatory School. 
Secondly, whether by accident or design, the majority of the staff at 
the Liverpool school have had workshop experience and are thus 
acquainted at first hand with the requirements of the trades, whereas 
in London the one instructor who is likely to have had this experi- 
ence — the teacher of manual training — occupies a subordinate posi- 
tion on the staff, except in such schools as have been mentioned. 
The Liverpool committee has further arranged to secure the cooper- 
ation of representative employers of the trades concerned in the 
supervision of the school course. This arrangement to some extent 
facilitates the introduction of boys to suitable situations, a task 
performed almost wholly by the head master directly and not through 
the juvenile employment committee. It is the rare exception that a 
boy leaves before the end of the course, and the majority of the boys 
on leaving enter some trade or other. 



Chapter XVII. 

EVENING SCHOOLS. 

The problem of evening continuation schools and further education 
of adults who are employed during the day is perhaps fraught with 
more difficulty than any other for the educational administrator. 
It is receiving considerable attention from all concerned in the 
subject, but there are so many factors involved and so many of these 
are beyond the control of the school authorities that it is not surpris- 
ing to find that opinion is steadily growing in favor of compulsory 
continuation schools. Under the present voluntary system, the 
chief factors which militate against success in the larger towns are 
indifference on the part of the young employees, and the absence of 
interest among the majority of employers. Even the select number 
who register in evening schools at the beginning of the annual session 
find considerable difficulty in making satisfactory attendances. 
The obstacles in their way are many; the school may be at a distance 
from their employment or the weather may be unfavorable, or, 
as happens more frequently, the pressure of work at office or other 
employment may make school attendance impossible. Mail days, 
monthly accounts, annual balances in the offices, special orders and 
overtime in the workshop, and increased business at Christmas in 
the shops are all contributory factors. And these are cumulative 
in their effect, for absence from a course which largely involves 
classroom instruction leads to backwardness which the students 
can not make up by themselves. Still another difficulty, which 
tends to disappear with better and more careful methods of registra- 
tion, is due to attempts to take either too many or too difficult 
courses. To these reasons there may be added the unattractiveness 
of many of the school buildings, the poor Ugh ting, the furniture and 
equipment intended for young scholars of the day schools, and, to 
some extent, teaching methods which are better suited to children 
than to adolescents or adults. 

On the administrative side there are three important conditions 
in the problem of evening school attendance : (1 ) To link up the day 
and evening school adequately to prevent a breach in the continuity 
of the educational progress; (2) to secure reasonable attendance 
during the session and the completion of courses arranged; and (3) to 
interest employers and parents in the progress of students in evening 
schools, and thus secure their cooperation. 

Most education authorities have made some provision to induce 
scholars on leaving the elementary schools to join the evening schools. 
In London more than two- thirds of the ordinary evening continuation 
schools which provide a general course are free. In Manchester and 
Liverpool free admissions are granted to all pupils who join the even- 

141 



142 



ELEMENTAEY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 



ing schools as soon as possible after they leave the day elementary 
schools. In Manchester the free admission is obtained on application 



Week 
ended 


0.4. 


Oot. 


Oct, 

15 


N.-t. 

22 


II.:.. 

29 


Nov. 


Nov. 
12 


Nov. 
19 


Nov. 
20 


Dec. 
3 


Dec. 
10 


Deo. 

17 


Dee. 
24 


Jan. 

14 


Jim. 
21 


Jan. 

28 


Feb. 
i 


Feb. 
11 


Feb. 
18 


Feb. 
25 


Mar 
4 


Mar. 
11 


Mar. 
18 


Mar. 
25 


Apr. 
1 


Apr. 

8 


U.r. 
15 


Apr. 
29 


12000 


























































11900 


























































11800 


























































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7900 




























































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4200 




























































4100 




























































4000 




























































3900 




























































3800 




























































3700 




























































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3500 




























































3400 




























































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Diagram 2.— Manchester Evening School of Commerce— Number of student hours registered in 1910-10. 

to the principal of an evening school. In Liverpool it is granted on 
the recommendation of the head teacher of the school last attended by 
the scholar. The head teachers of the day schools always impress 



EVENING SCHOOLS. 143 

on their leaving scholars the importance and value of immediately 
joining an evening school, and in Liverpool the head teachers send 
letters to their scholars shortly before the opening of the evening 
school session. In Manchester and Liverpool many of the head 
teachers of day elementary schools also conduct evening schools. 
These serve to link up the two. But in London the responsible 
teachers may be engaged during the day as assistants in schools in 
districts some distance away from their evening schools. The head 
teachers accordingly transmit the names of scholars leaving the day 
schools to the responsible teachers of the evening schools, who then 
conduct the further correspondence. The free admissions in Man- 
chester are only granted on the undertaking of a guarantor, a parent 
or employer, to return the value of the fees in the event of unsatis- 
factory attendance, while in Liverpool the parents promise to super- 
vise the attendance. By this system of free admissions the local 
education authorities are successful in securing the registration 
of about 50 per cent of the scholars leaving the day schools in any one 
year. The remainder are prevented from taking advantage of the 
offer by the conditions of their employment, or by the attractions 
of the streets, while some will probably fail to respond to any appeal 
but compulsion. So far as the efforts of the authorities are con- 
cerned, there is at any rate no reason to suppose that any one can 
remain in ignorance of the existence or of the time of opening the 
evening schools. The methods of publicity range in London from 
12 different systems of advertising to the personal appeals from 
pulpit and platform by ministers of religion and superintendents of 
Sunday schools. Kecently local education authorities have en- 
couraged the formation of evening classes in connection with lads' 
and girls' clubs, boys' brigades, boy scouts, etc., to the expenses of 
which they contribute in return for the board of education grant. 

To secure continuity of attendance throughout the several years of 
a course, the Manchester education committee offers annually prizes 
which carry with them a rebate of the fees for the following session. 
To obtain these prizes students must have made 90 per cent of the 
possible attendance, 66 per cent of the possible marks for homework, 
and must have been successful at the course examination. There 
are in addition a number of exhibitions carrying free tuition and 
books. A similar scheme of prizes, reduced fees, and studentships 
exists in Liverpool. The formation of social organizations, clubs, 
and societies for different purposes, some continuing during the 
summer recess, is found more frequently in the London evening 
schools than elsewhere. They form a valuable means for fostering 
a corporate spirit and interest in the welfare of a school which are 
too frequently lacking at present, while at the same time they serve 
to maintain that continuity which it is the purpose of the prize and 
other schemes to advance. 



144 ELEMENTAKY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

Ultimately the responsibility for attendance at evening schools 
must be placed on the employers. The select few who have sufficient 
moral earnestness and intellectual interests may be trusted to attend 
to the best of their ability. But the large majority of young persons 
require some other inducement and other forms of persuasion, and 
the employers are in the best position to exercise an influence of the 
right kind. Hence it is important for the education authorities 
to secure the cooperation of employers. This is done with ever- 
increasing effectiveness in Manchester. Many firms make arrange- 
ments to allow their employees to leave in time to attend the evening 
schools, others pay the tuition fees of their employees, while others 
again refund the fees at the end of the session on the receipt of satis- 
factory reports. The War Office and Post Office, as large employers 
of labor, have entered into arrangements with local education 
authorities to establish evening and continuation classes for their 
young employees, while many authorities have established special 
classes for policemen at the request of local watch committees. 
Another form of encouragement is to make increments of wages 
depend on the report from the school. In the case of younger 
students the committee arranges to send monthly reports of progress 
and conduct. In 1912-13 the Manchester committee was thus in 
touch with 180 firms in respect of 1,280 employees, while 60 firms 
paid the tuition fees of their employees. In Liverpool employers 
are notified at the beginning of the session of any person in their 
employ who joins the classes and are requested to facilitate their 
attendance punctually and regularly, and in cases of absence or 
irregularity of the students information is in some cases sent to their 
employers. Another form of cooperation is to interest different 
societies, e. g., masons, builders, plumbers, etc., in the courses 
provided at the technical schools. The interest of employers is 
further enlisted both in Manchester and Liverpool by the organiza- 
tion of courses in accordance with the requirements of the various 
trades and commerce. In London this is further extended by the 
appointment of consultative committees representing different indus- 
tries to act as advisory bodies for the schools in which they are respec- 
tively interested. 

Much good may undoubtedly be effected by these means, but a very 
large proportion of the public remains unaffected. It is estimated 
thaft, of the young persons between the ages of 14 and 17, not more 
than one-third are enrolled in evening schools, while the students 
between these ages make up between 40 and 50 per cent of all the 
students enrolled, except in London where the percentage is much 
smaller. It is possible that with further variation of the courses 
which will leave no trade or industry unrepresented there may be an 
accompanying increase in the number of students. 



EVENING SCHOOLS. 



145 



For the purposes of the annual grant in respect of evening school, 
the board of education recognizes the following divisions of instruc- 
tion: Preparatory, literary and commercial, art, science, home occu- 
pations and industries, and physical training. The work of the 
evening schools is accordingly organized along these lines, and pro- 
vision has been made in Manchester and Liverpool for preliminary 
courses in most of these divisions leading up to advanced instruction 
in central institutions. In the former city, where a more complete 
system has been framed, the work of the evening schools is distributed 
in the following institutions: Continuation schools, branch technical 
schools, branch art and handicraft schools, branch commercial schools, 
district evening schools of domestic economy, central evening school of 
domestic economy, municipal evening school of commerce and lan- 
guages, and the municipal school of technology. The accompanying 
diagram represents this organization of evening work. 

DIAGRAM 3. 

Illustrating the graded system of courses of instruction adapted to the requirements of the 
different classes of students in the Manchester evening schools. 

GRADE III.— CENTRAL INSTITUTIONS. 



Municipal school of tech- 
nology. 



Municipal school of com- 
merce and languages. 



Municipal school of art. 



Central evening school of 
domestic economy. 



Advanced instruction 
in science and technology. 



Advanced instruction 
in commercial subjects 
and in languages. 



Advanced instruction 
in art and design. 



Advanced instruction 
in domestic subjects. 




GRADE II.— BRANCH TECHNICAL SCHOOLS, BRANCH COMMERCIAL SCHOOLS, BRANCH 
ART CLASSES, AND DISTRICT EVENING SCHOOLS OF DOMESTIC ECONOMY. 



Second, third, and fourth 
year technical courses, to 
meet the requirements of 
all classes of technical stu- 
dents. 



Second, third, and 
fourth year commercial 
courses, to meet the re- 
quirements of juniors in 
business houses. 



First and second year 
art and handicraft courses, 
leading up to the in- 
struction at the munic- 
ipal school of art. 



Specialized instruction 
in domestic subjects, for 
women and girls over 16 
years of age. 




GRADE I.— EVENING CONTINUATION SCHOOLS. 



First and second year technical 
courses, for boys engaged in manual 
occupations . 



First and second year commer- 
cial courses, for boys and girls en- 
gaged in commercial or distribu- 
tive occupations. 



First and second year domestic 
courses, for girls desirous of re- 
ceiving a training in domestic sub- 
jects. 



PREPARATORY COURSE. 

For hoys and -iris who desire to improve their general education or who are not sufficiently prepared to take 

advantage of the above courses. 
4832°— i 4 10 



146 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

The coordination of schools in Liverpool is similar, with the excep- 
tion that there is no school corresponding to the central school of 
domestic economy. 

The preparatory courses are intended for those who are backward 
in the ordinary subjects of the elementary school and are therefore 
unable to enter classes in one of the other divisions. Such courses 
are found useful by those who have allowed some time to elapse 
between leaving the day school and entering the evening school. 

The commercial courses of the evening continuation schools are 
general and introductory in character. The complete group of 
subjects must be taken by junior students; that is, those under 18 
years of age. In the third year, when the work is given in the branch 
commercial school, the courses become more specialized to suit the 
different branches of commercial houses. Thus in Manchester there 
are arranged courses for shorthand clerks and typists, junior and 
invoice clerks, bookkeepers, correspondence and shippers' clerks, 
while in Liverpool the scheme provides for general clerks, corre- 
spondence and shorthand clerks, shipping and forwarding clerks, and 
bookkeepers, invoice clerks, and cashiers. Advanced courses beyond 
these are offered in central institutions, in Manchester at the Municipal 
Evening School of Commerce, and in Liverpool at the High School 
of Commerce. In the latter the course includes languages, economics, 
accountancy, commercial work and administration, commercial law, 
history of commerce and industry, and principles of local govern- 
ment. In the former the courses cover almost every requirement of 
business life, embracing accounting, commerce, economics, and law. 
Students may enter for diploma courses in accounting, banking and 
economics, secretarial and municipal work, general commercial studies, 
and foreign trade and correspondence, or may attend lecture courses 
in any of these subjects. In the professional courses preparation is 
given for the examinations of professional bodies like the actuaries, 
chartered accountants, bankers, insurance companies, and railway 
companies. The needs of large commercial centers like Manchester 
and Liverpool are further met by the provision of language courses. 
The Municipal Evening School of Commerce, in its school of languages, 
provides instruction in French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, 
Russian, Danish, Dutch, Modern Greek, Arabic, Japanese, Hindustani, 
Swedish, in any of which a diploma is given at the end of a two years' 
course and on passing the necessary examinations. In Liverpool a 
successful experiment has been made in providing courses ha French, 
German, Russian, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese during the middle 
of the day and immediately after office hours. It has been found that 
this arrangement has the support of many employers and seems to 
be more suited to the needs of the students who are able to make 
better attendances than at the evening courses. Clubs to provide 



EVENING SCHOOLS. 147 

practice in modern languages have been formed among the students 
in Manchester and Liverpool. 

The technical courses are intended for those who are engaged in 
trades and industries. The first two years are devoted to elementary 
science, mathematics, drawing, and English. In the branch technical 
schools the courses are differentiated; in Manchester there are pro- 
vided courses in engineering, building trades, chemical industries, 
and electrical industries; in Liverpool the groups are the engineering 
and metal trades, the building trades, and trades apprentices. The 
centers are equipped with the necessary laboratories and apparatus 
requisite for practical work in each of the courses. The work of the 
branch technical schools leads up to the more advanced courses of 
the better and more fully equipped Municipal School of Technology 
in Manchester and the Central Technical School in Liverpool. The 
former institution provides for specialization as follows: Mechanical 
engineering, electrical engineering, general chemistry, bleaching, 
dyeing and printing, paper making, brewing, metallurgy, municipal 
engineering, sanitary engineering, building construction, weaving, and 
plumbing. In the latter the courses of instruction are organized for 
the following: Building trades, plumbers, carpenters and joiners, 
engineering trades, electrical engineers, electric wiremen, motor car 
engmeers, sheet, plate, and bar metal workers, naval architects, and 
chemistry. 

The third important division of the evening school activity com- 
prises instruction in the home occupations and industries for women 
and girls. The organization is similar to that of the other divisions. 
The evening continuation schools give the introductory work in 
arithmetic and household accounts, cookery, needlework and dress- 
making, millinery, home nursing, and English, which at the end of 
the two years leads up to the courses hi the branch schools of domes- 
tic economy. These comprise instruction in cookery, needlework, 
dressmaking, millinery, home nursing, laundry work, and domestic 
economy. In Manchester more advanced courses are offered in the 
Central Evening School of Domestic Economy, which has recently 
been established. The complete two years' course of this school 
leads up to the housewife's diploma. Besides the ordinary courses, 
there are short courses in first aid to the injured, sick nursing, design, 
leather work, pottery painting, raffia and basketwork, and gym- 
nastics. 

The art and handicraft courses, which necessarily appeal to fewer 
students, are not provided in the evening continuation schools, and 
in Liverpool are given only in the Central School of Art. In Man- 
chester a few branch schools are opened in these subjects, which are 
continued to an advanced stage in the Municipal School of Art. 



148 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

There are, in addition, special courses for teachers, for students pre- 
paring for the civil-service examinations, or for the entrance examina- 
tions to the universities. Except to some small extent in London, 
there has not been developed a system of public lectures of a general 
character. 

In London the organization of the evening-school work does not 
provide for the same coordination with branch and central institu- 
tions as in Manchester or Liverpool. Owing to the area to be cov- 
ered and the distances, such a scheme would perhaps be impossible 
for London. But the absence of coordination does not exclude the 
provision of facilities for instruction as rich and varied as the needs 
of a large population may demand. There are the ordinary evening 
schools, the large majority of them free, which offer general, literary 
and commercial, art, manual instruction, domestic subjects, and 
physical- training courses. The science and art and commercial cen- 
ters provide instruction in the ordinary and higher branches of com- 
mercial subjects, in foreign languages, in introductory science and art 
subjects, and general courses in miscellaneous subjects. The most 
successful part of the London evening work is probably that which 
is done in the technical institutions, in which the work ranges from 
the training of the artisan to research work of university standard. 1 

The teachers in the evening schools are drawn partly from the day 
elementary and secondary school teachers and partly from those 
engaged in professional, commercial, and industrial pursuits. The 
adult student seems to have greater confidence in the teacher who is 
practically engaged during the day in applying the knowledge on 
the subject which he teaches, and it is probably true that the 
teaching of men of this type is more living and effective than of the 
man who only has a book knowledge of his subject. It is also 
objected that the professional teachers of the elementary or secondary 
schools do not vary their methods of instruction sufficiently to suit 
the requirements of the evening students, and there is undoubtedly 
need for a specialized evening-school pedagogy. 

The work of the evening schools is tested annually by examinations 
conducted by the local education authorities and numerous external 
bodies. The Board of Education conducts examinations in science 
and art subjects, in which the City and Guilds of London Institute is 
also interested. In commercial and ordinary subjects there are 
examinations by the royal society of arts, the London chamber of 
commerce, the national union of teachers, and the union of Lan- 
cashire and Cheshire institutes. Each of these bodies awards prizes 
and certificates to the successful students. 

The London system of continuation education is to be revised for 
the coming session, 1913-14, with a view to better coordination, 



i See L. C C education committee. Report on eight years of technical and continuation schools (mostly 
evening work), 1912 



EVENING SCHOOLS. 149 

such as prevails in Manchester and Liverpool. The small, struggling 
schools are to be abolished entirely. The main lines of instruction 
arc to be commercial, technical, art, domestic, women's trades, and 
nonvocational subjects. The schools are in future to be known as 
''institutes," with junior and senior branches thoroughly coordi- 
nated. Thus, there are to be junior and senior commercial institutes 
leading up to the most advanced work of the London School of Eco- 
nomics or the City of London College, which is to be reorganized. 
The junior technical institutes are to be linked up with the poly- 
technics, technical institutes, and university colleges; and the same 
arrangements are to be made in other departments where possible. 
The principals of the higher institutes are to have power to act in an 
advisory capacity to the junior institutes, while the coordination is 
to be promoted by regular conferences between those in charge of 
evening work in each locality. A new departure will be the appoint- 
ment of full-time responsible teachers, devoting their attention only 
to evening work. The present system of half-time responsible 
teachers, working in day and evening schools, is also to be retained. 
Provision will continue to be made for special classes apart from 
the regular courses of the institutes. 

If a general conclusion may be drawn respecting the present sys- 
tem of evening schools, it would seem that the maximum of success 
with the existing organization has been attained. There is a good 
deal of pessimism among those who are devoting themselves as 
teachers or organizers to the work. The greatest success is achieved 
with what may be called the " bread-and-butter" subjects, those sub- 
jects which help the student to obtain promotion or higher wages. 
This success may to some extent be due to the fact that these 
subjects are taught by " practical" men, but the utilitarian 
reason is probably nearer the truth. The failure of the purely 
educational or cultural subjects is due in the main to an 
absence of appreciation of their value, although poor and life- 
less teaching may also be contributory. Further experiment with 
teaching methods suited to adolescents and adults is necessary if 
success is to be attained in the cultural subjects. In this connection 
the valuable contribution to this side of the subject made by the 
Workers' Educational Association should be mentioned. Consider- 
able success has been attained in the courses offered by the associa- 
tion to workingmen by a combination of the lecture and discussion 
method, or what is known in American universities as the "practi- 
cum" method. At present the cost of evening schools, except in the 
large central schools, tends to be too expensive, since classes are con- 
tinued when the numbers drop to as low as six or nine. An appeal 
to ratepayers and employers, from the point of view of public finance, 
may help to make the evening schools more popular. Internal 



150 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

reforms more along the lines of vocational differentiation, as in 
Munich, may also serve to attract some of those who at present 
remain aloof. But in the end some method of compulsion will have 
to be introduced making it compulsory for young persons up to a 
certain age to attend a continuation school and for employers to 
permit those of their young employees who desire to do so to attend 
a continuation school without the difficulties which exist at present. 
Whether a system of day continuation schools can be introduced 
without considerable opposition is open to much doubt, but the suc- 
cess of the day language classes in Liverpool would warrant an ex- 
tension of the experiment in other subjects. 

The direction of legislation of the future is indicated by the Con- 
tinuation Schools Bill, a private bill recently presented to Parliament. 
Its objects are to make attendance at day schools compulsory for all 
children up to the age of 14, and attendance at day continuation 
schools compulsory for all children between the ages of 14 and 17 
who are not being educated elsewhere. A minimum attendance of 
eight hours a week is demanded, and employers are to be compelled 
to allow the attendance of employees of the prescribed ages. The 
continuation schools are to be free, and the work is to be organized 
along the lines of the Munich continuation schools. Local educa- 
tion authorities will be allowed to associate with them local employ- 
ers to advise in the organization and administration of the system. 



Chapter XVIII. 

JUVENILE EMPLOYMENT. 

Still another form of activity which is indicative of the broader 
conception of the State's duty to its children, and indirectly for its 
own welfare, is the national organization of agencies concerned with 
the finding of employment for children on leaving school. The ques- 
tion of juvenile employment was forced on public attention some 
five years ago in connection with the inquiries into the causes of the 
prevailing unemployment. Voluntary agencies had long existed in 
the larger centers with the object of advising and giving informa- 
tion to juveniles on matters affecting their future occupations, and 
some of these also gave assistance in the finding of suitable employ- 
ment. More recently several local authorities had established em- 
ployment agencies or committees in connection with their education 
departments. Of these perhaps the best known schemes were those 
of Birmingham and Edinburgh. When, in 1909, the establishment 
of national labor bureaus was discussed in Parliament, there was a 
general recognition of the importance of special provision for finding- 
suitable employment for children leaving school. It was realized 
at the same time that the question of juvenile employment involved 
broader issues than the mere finding of employment, and that the 
juvenile labor bureaus, whatever their form might be, would have 
to assume duties as much educational as economic. The inquiries 
into unemployment had revealed the great amount of evil caused by 
ill-considered entry into " blind alley" occupations which was due 
to the absence of any agency for giving vocational guidance. From 
another point of view the task of juvenile labor bureaus is no less 
educational, for they are in an excellent position to advise attendance 
at evening and other continuation schools, if only from the economic 
standpoint. Finally, there .is the duty of collecting information on 
local trades and industries for young people, the conditions of em- 
ployment, prospects and wages, information which would offer a 
basis for vocational guidance. In placing the labor bureaus in inti- 
mate connection with the education authorities there is the further 
gain that the information of the teachers and the reports of the 
medical officers are at their disposal. By those who support the 
juvenile departments of the national labor exchanges it is argued 
that the more important aspects of the work are a thorough knowl- 
edge of the labor market, the prospects held out by the different 
trades and industries, and the modes of entering them. Further, 
it is held that the national system secures unity both for purposes 
of registration and the distribution of information. 

The labor exchanges act, providing for the establishment of labor 
exchanges for adults, was passed in 1909. Early in 1910 the board 

151 



152 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

of trade, which was charged with the control of the labor exchanges, 
published rules regulating the relations between the labor exchanges 
and juvenile applicants for employment. There was thus estab- 
lished a system, under the administration of the board of trade, 
which was adopted by several local authorities. In the same year, 
however, the education (Choice of Employment) act was passed, 
which empowered county councils and county boroughs, as local 
education authorities — 

to make arrangements, subject to the approval of the Board of Education, for giving 
to boys and girls under 17 years of age assistance with respect to the choice of suitable 
employment, by means of the collection and the communication of information and 
the furnishing of advice. 

Local authorities other than those mentioned above were also 
given power to cooperate in the scheme with county councils. The 
expenses for working the scheme could be raised out of the educa- 
tion rate. This act accordingly set up a second system under the 
adminifc ion of the Board of Education, and local authorities 
were ftft to uecide which of the two they would adopt. 

The bu^i c trade scheme provides for the establishment, where 
juvenile labor exchanges are organized under its regulations, of special 
advisory committees. The committees include persons with a knowl- 
edge of education and young people, and representatives of employers 
and workpeople. A chairman is appointed by the board of trade, 
while the official in charge of the local labor exchange and His Maj- 
esty's inspectors are permitted to attend the meetings of the com- 
mittees. The duty of these special advisory committees is to ad- 
vise in the management of the juvenile exchange, and to give advice 
and information on the choice of employment to boys and girls and 
their parents. Such information is supplied on the responsibility 
of the committee, without attaching any to the board of trade or the 
labor exchange. Local authorities adopting this scheme are invited 
and encouraged to organize bodies of voluntary workers in .connec- 
tion therewith. The plan of utilizing the national labor exchanges 
for purposes of juvenile employment has been adopted by the London 
County Council. For this object the board of trade in 1910 ap- 
pointed the London juvenile advisory committee, consisting of 30 
members, of whom 6 were nominated by the London County 
Council. Besides this central committee, local advisory commit- 
tees were appointed in connection with the exchanges. In addition, 
the children's care committees and the local associations of care 
committees, established by the London County Council, undertake 
to secure information on the qualifications of the children leaving 
school and their home conditions, and to carry on some supervision 
if the young employees. The business of the care committee is 
to advise and guide. The local advisory committees secure the 
information on employment, introduce the applicants to suitable 



JUVENILE EMPLOYMENT. 153 

openings, and supervise their progress at work. As the system has 
only been in operation for two years, it is perhaps too early to judge 
of its success. And in any case London offers an area full of diffi- 
culties in the matter of juvenile employment which do not beset 
the problem in other and smaller towns. It is estimated that only 
about one-third of the children leaving elementary schools enter 
occupations which can be called skilled. There are, however, 
several organizations which are placing their experience at the 
service of the authorities. Among these may be mentioned the 
apprenticeship and skilled employment associations, whose object 
is the "promotion of thorough industrial training for boys and 
girls by apprenticeship and other methods, including arrangements 
for attendance at trade schools and technical classes"; the lads' em- 
ployment committee, winch not only aims to find suitable employ- 
ment, but carries on a system of aftercare through the lads' brigades 
and clubs ; and the Mansion House advisory committee of associations 
for boys, representing brigades, scouts, and clubs, which ajr p nopu- 
larize the labor exchanges and to encourage attendance e D I ;iua- 

tion school, and joining one or other of the boys' associations. 

The system under the education (Choice of Employment) act, 
1910, is regulated by a "Memorandum with regard to cooperation 
between labor exchanges and local education authorities exercising 
their powers under the education (Choice of Employment) act, 
1910," issued by the board of trade and the Board of Education. 
Where the board of trade has already appointed special advisory 
committees in connection with labor exchanges, local authorities 
are not to use the powers given by the above act. Otherwise local 
education authorities may appoint subcommittees consisting of 
representatives of industry and education, including teachers, and 
voluntary workers. The executive work is to be conducted by a 
specially appointed officer. Provision must be made for coopera- 
tion between the local organizations and the national labor ex- 
changes, and, where possible, it is suggested that one central office 
should be opened for both. In any case, applications for employ- 
ment and notices of vacancies should be available for the use of 
both bodies. Where differences arise, the decision is to rest with the 
local education authority's officer in the case of children at school and 
for six months after leaving, and in all other cases with the official 
in charge of the labor exchange. The duty of the juvenile employ- 
ment committees and their executive officers includes the registra- 
tion of applicants, advice to applicants, efforts to extend the period 
of education, to make pupils acquainted with the local education 
facilities, to recommend attendance at evening and continuation 
schools, and to secure employment suitable to the individual needs 
of the applicants, not necessarily offering large wages, but holding 
out prospects of training and permanent employment. 



154 ELEMENTAKY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

The Liverpool education committee has established a juvenile 
employment exchange under this act. The exchange is under the 
management of a committee consisting of the following members: 
Eight members of the Liverpool education committee, six teachers 
elected by the head teachers of all senior departments of the elemen- 
tary schools and the principals of mixed schools, the director of edu- 
cation, the clerk for elementary education, the senior inspector and 
inspectress, the superintendent of attendance officers, two repre- 
sentatives of employers and two of trades unions, three managers of 
schools nominated by the education committee, two persons with 
special knowledge and experience of the subject, and the officer in 
charge of the local labor exchanges or his representative. The H. M. 
inspector of schools of the district may attend the meetings of the 
committee. Rooms for the administration of the exchange have been 
provided in the education offices. The work is under the charge of 
an official appointed by the education committee. It was intended 
that an officer of the local labor exchange should be associated with 
him, but this scheme for cooperation has, up to the present, not proved 
successful. But it is open to this officer to be present at interviews 
between applicants and the committee's officer and to consult the 
registers kept at the juvenile employment exchange. Each elemen- 
tary school serves as a subomce for the purposes of the scheme, and 
the care committees also undertake to place the parents and children 
in touch with the exchange. An advisory committee of employers 
representing 30 associations, trades, and professions has been formed 
and assists in collecting information. The officer in charge of the 
exchange is assisted by a male and female visitor and a clerk. The 
head teachers and their assistants are associated in this work both 
for purposes of registration and securing employment. About six 
weeks before the date of leaving, the head teachers invite the parents 
of their pupils to meet them at the school for the purpose of an inter- 
view, at which, if possible, the parents are induced to retain their 
children longer at school, or the future of the children is discussed. 
The accompanying letter is given to the boys and a similar one with 
the necessary modifications to girls: 

LETTER TO BOYS. 

CITY OF LIVERPOOL. 

Education Offices, 
14 Sir Thomas Street, Liverpool. 

JUVENILE EMPLOYMENT COMMITTEE. 

1. The Juvenile Employment Committee learn that you will shortly be leaving 
school. They hope that, with your parents' help and approval, you have found, or 
will find, some suitable employment to go to. The choice of this is very important for 
you. It is not difficult for you to find a situation, but if it is one which will only 
employ you for two or three years, without any prospects of improving your position 



JUVENILE EMPLOYMENT. 155 

afterwards, you should not take it until you have your teacher's advice aboni il. 
Your teacher may be able to assist you, or will perhaps advise you to come to the 
Committee's Offices (at the address you will see at the top of this letter) and get 
advice there, which will be gladly given you. Do not decide in a hurry; very many 
boys and girls have done that and regretted it all their lives afterwards. You are 
not old enough, and you have not experience enough, to decide for yourself; so talk 
over what, you will do, first with your parents, then with your teacher, and then, if 
you like, at the Committee's Office. The Committee often hear of situations vacant. 
Of these they keep a list, and perhaps one of them might suit you if employment is 
not found for you in any other way. 

2. Important considerations for you to bear in mind are these: You have to think 
of the future and not merely of the present; the man who knows a trade has always a 
better chance of success than one who is entirely unskilled, and often a better chance 
than a clerk in an office. 

3. Remember, too, that the boy ivho works cheerfully and with industry has the best 
chance of getting on. Always be ready to do a little more than you are asked. 

4. Do not give up one situation until you have got a better one. If you are in a diffi- 
culty your former teacher, or the Committee's Officer at Sir Thomas Street, will be 
willing to advise and help you. 

5. The Committee want you to look upon them as your friends, for they are anxious 
to help you. There is one point to which they would wish your attention to be 
specially drawn. You ought not, on leaving your day school, to think that your educa- 
tion is completed, but should seek to join a suitable Evening Continuation School in 
your neighborhood. About this your teacher will advise you. 

Finally, remember that whatever others do for you, you must put your own 
shoulder to the wheel. 

James G. Legge, Director of Education. 

Cards, of which copies are given (pp. 157, 158), are filled in with in- 
formation which will assist the officer of the exchange, whether the 
parents already have some employment in view or whether they desire 
the assistance of the exchange. At the interview emphasis is placed 
on the importance of securing employment which holds out prospects 
for the future rather than high wages in the immediate present. The 
establishment of the exchange is not intended to do away with the 
cooperation between teachers and employers which formerly existed 
in many instances, but a card must be filed at the exchange giving 
information about every child leaving .school. Where neither the 
parents nor the teachers know of suitable openings, the parents are 
advised to call at the exchange with their children, taking the nomi- 
nation cards, medical report cards, and testimonials from the head 
teacher. At the exchange the officer endeavors to discover whether 
the applicants have the qualifications for the employment selected by 
them, and explains the conditions, wages, prospects, etc., attaching 
thereto, and if suitable vacancies exist, the applicants are sent to 
interview the employers. 

If there are no suitable openings at the moment, notice is sent 
when they occur. The exchange keeps in touch with young persons 
in employment up to the age of 17, and with their employ ers, and 
endeavors with their cooperation to secure the attendance of the 



156 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 

employees at continuation schools or technical classes, on which 
information is given by the head teachers as children leave school, 
Through the employers' advisory committee and voluntary agencies, 
the exchange has so far been successful in obtaining information of 
vacancies as they occur. To facilitate the work of giving vocational 
guidance, an inquiry has been conducted into the nature of the open- 
ings for juvenile labor in Liverpool. On the basis of this inquiry it 
is hoped to issue a handbook for the use of teachers and others who 
have to advise young persons on the selection of occupations, similar 
to the well-known " Trades for London Boys," and " Trades for 
London Girls." 

About 40 local education authorities, including Manchester 
recently, have up to the present adopted schemes similar to that of 
Liverpool under the education (choice of employment) act. This 
system has the advantage over that operated under the board of 
trade in being thoroughly coordinated with the educational systems. 
It does not involve a sudden breach with the influences under which 
the children have been brought up and secures after-care by the 
same authorities, at any rate where care committees have been 
established, as have supervised their social welfare during their 
school career. It possesses the further advantage of being in the 
hands of those who can impress the young persons with the value 
of further education. And, lastly, since the employment exchanges 
under this act and the school medical service are parts of the same 
educational system, the medical reports, especially of the results 
of the inspection of leavers, which are otherwise of a confidential 
nature, can be made accessible to the ofhcer in charge of the exchange. 
With this object in view the board of education (see An. Rep. of 
Chief Med. Of., 1911, pp. 245-267) has laid special stress on the 
medical examination of children about to leave school and has 
suggested that their particular needs should be borne in mind by 
the school medical officer. The juvenile employment exchange can 
thus endeavor to provide occupations for which applicants are not 
only educationally, but also physically, fitted. The difficulty of 
transferring the records of the juvenile employment exchanges to 
the national labor exchanges, when boys and girls reach the age of 
17, is not so insuperable as to justify the sacrifice of the advantages 
of this system. One difficulty, however, does remain, and that is 
the finding of suitable employment for the boy and girl, who, through 
no fault of their own, are so poorly clothed that they hesitate to 
approach the exchanges or can not, when they have applied, be 
presented for suitable employment. But here again the system 
under the local authorities for education is superior, in that it 
secures the cooperation of teachers, school managers, and care com- 
mittees, who deal with such cases in all the poorer schools. 



JUVENILE EMPLOYMENT. 



157 



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index. 



Act. labor exchanges, 151-152. 

Act of 1902, provisions regarding education, 10-12, 21. 

Administration of education, 7-20. 

Artisans, training, 65. 

Attendance, school. Sec School attendance. 

Backward children, classes, London, Manchester, and Liverpool, 30-31. 

Binet-Simon tests, 118. 

Board of education, England and Wales, functions, 8-10. 

Care committees, 21-25. 

Central schools, 126-140. 

Children, employment, 151-158; exceptional capacity, 32; necessitous, provisions for 

in Liverpool, 24-25. 
Children's Happy Evenings Association, 114-115. 
Civics, teaching, 50. 

Classification and coordination of schools, 26-32. 
Clinic, dental, Liverpool, 89. 
Coeducation, 26-27. 

Commercial education, evening schools, 146-149. 
Commercial schools, Manchester, 142. 
Committees, education, power, 11-12. 
Compulsory school attendance, 33-36. 

Continuation schools, legislation, 150; London, 148-149. See also Evening schools. 
Coordination of schools, 31-32. 
Country holiday schools, 109-110. 

County council, London, administration of education, 11-20. 
Courses of study, central school, 131-140; elementary schools, 45-52; evening schools. 

145-147; infant schools, 40-41; open-air school, Woolwich, 106. 
Dancing, instruction, 72. 
Defectives, mental, 118-125. 
Dental clinic, Liverpool, 89. 

Domestic science, central schools, 136; teaching, 65-70. 
Drawing, teaching, 50-51. 
Elementary schools, 43-55; types, 26. 
Employment, children, 151-158. 

England and Wales, board of education, central authority, 8-10. 
English, teaching, 47-48. 
Evening Play Centers Committee, work, 114. 
Evening schools, 141-150. 
Feeding, necessitous children, 92-95. 

Freedom, principle of, in English system of education, 7-8. 
Games, organized, 70-74. 

Geography, teaching, 47^8, 53. Sec also School excursions. 
Grants to education, Government, 14-16. 
Handwork, instruction, 59-65. 
Happy evening centers, 114-115. 
History, teaching, 50, 

159 



160 INDEX. 

Holiday schools, country, 109-110. 

Holidays for poor children, 110. 

Industrial education, evening schools, 147-150. 

Industrial schools, day, 116-117. 

Infant schools, 37-42. 

Juvenile employment, 151-158. 

Labor exchanges act, 151-152. 

Lancashire and Cheshire Society for the Parmanent Care of the Feeble-minded, 125. 

Lectures, public, in schools, 115. 

Letter of transmittal, 5. 

Liverpool, backward children, classes, 31; central schools, 137-140; country school 
for defective children, 110 ; equipment for nature study, 57 ; evening schools, 143- 
145; industrial schools, 116-117; instruction in handwork, 59-60; juvenile employ- 
ment exchange, 154-158; medical inspection of schools, 82, 88, 90-91; mentally 
defective children, schools, 121; organization of education, 10-20; organizing prin- 
cipals, 27; school attendance, 36; school managers and care committees, 24-25. 

London, backward children, classes, 30-31; central schools, 127-140; continuation 
education, system, 148-149; employment of children, 151-153; equipment for 
nature study, 57-59; industrial schools, 116-117; instruction in domestic science, 
66-70; meals for school children, 93-94; medical inspection of schools, 79-83, 
87-90; mentally defective children, schools, 121; open-air schools, 103-109; organ- 
ization of education, 10-20; outline of needlework scheme, 67; playgrounds, 75-78; 
recreation centers, 114; scholarships, 97-101; school attendance, statistics, 33-36; 
school managers and care committees, 21-24; system of promotions, 28-29; use of 
parks for recreation grounds, 73; vacation schools, 111-113. 

Manchester, backward children, classes, 31; central schools, 127-132; country holi- 
day schools, 109-110; equipment for nature study, 57; evening schools, 142-150; 
industrial schools, 116; instruction in care of infants, 70; instruction in handwork, 
59-60; meals for school children, 93-95; medical inspection of schools, 82-88; 
mentally defective children, 121; organization of education, 10-20; scholarships, 
101-102; school attendance, 33, 36; swimming baths, 74; time-table of infant school, 
38-39; use of parks as recreation grounds, 73; vacation schools, 113. 

Manchester Evening School of Commerce, statistics, 142. 

Manual training. See Handwork. 

Meals for school children, 12-13. 

Medical inspection of schools, 82-88, 79-91. 

Mental defectives, 118-125. 

Metal work, instruction, 64. 

Mixed classes, 26-27. 

Montessori system, 42. 

Music, teaching, 51. 

National labor bureaus, establishment and activities, 151. 

National system of education, growth, 7. 

Nature study, 56-59. 

Needlework and domestic subjects, 65-70. 

Newcastle-on-Tyne, school attendance, 36. 

Nottingham, special classes of children, 32. 

Open-air schools and classes, 103-110. 

Organization of schools, 26-31. 

Physical training, instruction, 70-74. 

Playgrounds, 75-78. 

Principals, organizing, Liverpool, 27. 

Promotions, system, London, 28. 

Religious questions, and education, 8. 



INDEX. 161 

•Sandlebridge Home for Mentally Defective Children, 125. 
Scholarship system, 96-102. 

School attendance, enforcement, 33-36; exemptions, 53-54. 
School buildings, architecture, 18-19. 
School excursions, 52-53. 
School managers, 21-25. 
School savings banks, 52. 

Science, teaching, central schools. 133, 135-136. * 
Social centers, schools, 113-115. 

Standards of work, elementary schools of England and the United States, 54-55. 
Swimming, instruction. 73-74. 

Teachers, certification and qualifications, 15-18; evening schools, 148. 
Teaching, special subjects, 56-74. 
Thrift, instruction, 51-52. 
Unit, in English system, 43-44. 
Vacation schools, 111-113. 
Ventilation, artificial, schools, 19-20. 
Wales. See England and Wales. 
Woolwich, open-air school, course of study, 106. 

Women, on education committees, 11; teachers, percentage to total number em- 
ployed (London, Manchester, Liverpool), 16. 
Woodworking, instruction, 60. 
Workers' Educational Association, and evening schools, 119. 

o 

4832°— 14 11 



BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF EDUCATION. 

(Continued from p. 2 of cover.) 
1513— Continued. 

No. 9. Consular reports on continuation schools in Prussia. 

No. 10. Monthly record of current educational publications, March, 1913. 

No. 11. Monthly record of current educational publications, April, 1913. 
*No. 12. The promotion of peace. Fannie Fern Andrews. 10 cts. B 

# No. 13. Standards for measuring efficiency of schools. G. D. Strayer. 5 cts. 

No. 14. Agricultural instruction in secondary schools. 
*No. 15. Monthly record of current educational publications, May, 1913. 5 cts. 
*No. 16. Bibliography of medical inspection and health supervision. 15 cts. 

No. 17. A trade school for girls. 
*No. 18. Congress on hygiene and demography. Fletcher B. Dresslar. 10 cts. 

No. 19. German industrial education. Holmes Beckwith. 

No. 20. Illiteracy in the United States. 
fNo. 21. Monthly record of current educational publications, June, 1913. 

No. 22. Bibliography of industrial, vocational, and trade education. 
*No. 23. The Georgia Club (for study of rural sociology). E. C. Branson. 10 cts. 
*No. 24. Education in Germany and the United States. G. Kerschensteiner. 5 cts. 
*No. 25. Industrial education in Columbus, Ga. R. B. Daniel. 5 cts. 
*No. 26. Good roads arbor day. Susan B. Sipe. 10 cts. 

No. 27. Prison schools. A. C. Hill. 
*No. 28. Expressions on education by American statesmen and publicists. 5 cts. 

No. 29. Accredited secondary schools in the United States. K. C. Babcock. 
*No. 30. Education in the South. 10 cts. 
*No. 31. Special features in city school systems. 10 cts. 

No. 32. Educational survey of Montgomery County, Md. 
*No. 33. Monthly record of current educational publications, Sept., 1913. 5 cts. 

No. 34. Teachers' pension systems in Great Britain. E. W. Sies. 

No. 35. A list of books suited to a high-school library. 

No. 36. Work of the Bureau of Education for the natives of Alaska. 

No. 37. Monthly record of current educational publications, Oct., 1913. 

No. 38. Economy of time in education. 

No. 39. Elementary industrial school of Cleveland, Ohio. W. N. Hailmann. 

No. 40. The reorganized school playground. H. S. Curtis. 

No. 41. The reorganization of secondary education. 

No. 42. An experimental rural school at Winthrop College. H. S. Browne. 

No. 43. Agriculture and rural-life day. E. C. Brooks. 

No. 44. Organized health work in schools. E. B. Hoag. 

No. 45. Monthly record of current educational publications. Nov., 1913. 

No. 46. Educational directory, 1913. 

No. 47. Teaching material in Government publications. F. K. Noyes. 

No. 48. School hygiene. W. Carson Ryan, jr. 

No. 49. The Farragut School. A. C. Monahan and Adams Phillips. 

No. 50. Fitchburg plan of cooperative industrial education. M. R. McCann. 

No. 51. Education of the immigrant. 

No. 52. Sanitary schoolhouses. 

No. 53. Monthly record of current educational publications, Dec, 1913. 

No. 54. Consular reports on industrial education in Germany. 

No. 55. Legislation and judicial decisions relating to education. 

No. 56. Some suggestive features of the Swiss school system. W. «K. Tate. 



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